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Nearly 40% of new hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the United States have been reported in Texas and Florida. White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said that just eight states account for 51% of the total hospitalizations in the country. The other six states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Nevada.
“In the past week, Florida has had more COVID cases than all 30 states with the lowest case rates combined,” Zients said during a press briefing.
Breward County in Florida leads the nation in hospitalizations with over 1,800 new admissions last week, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Harris Country, Texas was second, followed by Miami-Dade County.
Almost all of the people who are being hospitalized are unvaccinated. Florida and Texas are both below the national average for vaccinations, with 49.8% and 44.7%, respectively.
While people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 rarely contract the viral infection, those who do get it show mild or no symptoms and usually do not require hospitalization.
“We realize very, very well that the data is absolute,” Dr. O’Neil Pyke, chief medical officer at Jackson North Medical Center, told WPLG. “The folks who are actually vaccinated are being protected to the tune of 90-plus percent. The folks who are unvaccinated continue to fill the hospitals.”