TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The number of Florida hospital inpatients with COVID-19 was down slightly Tuesday from a week earlier, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The data showed that 10,893 inpatients had COVID-19, down from 11,078 a week earlier.
Also, 1,461 COVID-19 patients were in intensive-care units, up from 1,382 a week earlier. COVID-19 hospitalizations increased dramatically over the past month as the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus spread through the state.
With the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus continuing to spread, Florida totaled more than 430,000 cases of COVID-19 during the week that ended last Thursday, according to a report released Friday by the state Department of Health.
The 430,297 cases brought the total for the past four weeks to a reported 1.252 million cases. During the four previous weeks in November and the first half of December, the state totaled 63,477 cases — showing the massive effect the omicron variant has had recently in driving up infections.
In all, Florida has had a reported 4.99 million COVID-19 cases and 63,158 resident deaths since the pandemic started in early 2020, according to Department of Health numbers.
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