LAKE MARY, Fla. - Florida has reported 75,962 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, which breaks previous records for new, single-day cases documented in the state. It breaks the record set a day earlier when more than 58,000 cases were reported in the state.
This week has seen a steady increase in new cases and hospitalizations of patients due to COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The data show a total of 4,165,96 coronavirus cases in Florida since the beginning of the pandemic with total deaths at 62,480.
The new estimates raise the 7-day average to more than 43,000 new cases. The number was at around 26,600 at the peak of the summer surge in August, which was fueled by the delta variant.
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The federal government says Florida hospitals were treating close to 5,000 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, compared to over 3,400 the previous day. The 7-day average for hospitalizations has doubled.
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Florida has seen a major increase in COVID-19 cases this month, at least in part because of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. But while hospitalization numbers have increased, they remain far below the totals this summer.
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