Fort Lauderdale, Florida – From the past three days coming out of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, Florida reported 112,115 new COVID-19 cases, data that indicates infections are starting to slow.
According to the CDC, that three-day total amounts to an average of about 37,000 cases per day in Florida. Last week, the state reported a record 430,297 new COVID-19 infections, which equates to more than 61,000 per day. Researchers have suggested that this week could mark the peak of the omicron variant wave in the United States.
While the fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, COVID-19 deaths in the United States are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March.
Florida has now verified at least 5,153,539 COVID-19 cases and 63,455 deaths connected to the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to the CDC. The case numbers wouldn’t include people who test positive using at-home tests and don’t report their results to health officials.
On Tuesday, 10,643 people in the state were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
