142K COVID Cases Reported In FL Over New Year's Eve Weekend: CDC

FLORIDA — Over the holiday weekend, Florida reported more than 142,000 new COVID-19 cases over three days.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 56,719 were added in the state on New Year’s Eve, another 45,838 cases on New Year’s Day and 39,797 cases on Sunday.

Coronavirus cases have surged in recent weeks, with a weekly COVID-19 report from the Florida Department of Health showing 298,455 new cases, a new case positivity rate of 26.5 percent and 32 deaths reported in Florida from Dec. 24-30.

That means more than 1 in 4 people who were tested for the virus during that period were positive for coronavirus.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have also more than doubled in Florida over the past seven days.

CDC data shows a nearly 112 percent increase in hospitalizations related to the virus last week. There was a seven-day average of 961 hospitalizations from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, compared with a seven-day average of 454 hospitalizations from Dec. 19-25.

The Florida Hospital Association also shows a sharp increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since it began reporting those numbers again last week.

There were 2,075 hospitalizations Dec. 27 and 5,299 reported Monday, the agency tweeted. That’s a 155.4 percent increase in coronavirus hospitalizations over the past seven days and a 281.2 percent increase from two weeks ago, the FHA said.

During the peak of the summer’s COVID-19 surge, which was driven by spread of the delta variant, there were 17,121 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Aug. 23, according to an FHA news release.

“Based on the experiences in other countries and in other states that have been hit by this latest variant, we are optimistic that the omicron variant will result in less severe illness. Unfortunately, omicron appears to be more contagious and still could lead to increased hospitalizations simply because of the volume of individuals affected,” said Mary C. Mayhew, FHA president and CEO.

At a news conference Monday — his first in weeks — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused leaders in other states of fueling COVID-19 “hysteria” during this current surge caused by the omicron variant, the Daily Beast reported.

“In terms of Florida, you look what’s going on in other states, they’re letting hysteria drive them to doing really damaging things. We thought that people had learned,” DeSantis said. “They’re closing schools, they’re doing things that should not be done. That is not the way you deal with this.”

The governor also appeared at a Christian concert in Miami on New Year’s Eve where he touted Florida as “the freest state,” Fox 13 reported.

"I wish you all a Happy New Year," DeSantis told the crowd attending the show. "I'm glad we're going to be able to celebrate the new year in the freest state of the United States."

At Monday’s news conference, he also spoke out against President Joe Biden’s administration for pulling back the state’s access to monoclonal antibody drugs, such as Regeneron, after a study showed they might not be as effective in treating the omicron variant as they were in treating the delta variant, Local 10 reported.

DeSantis announced at the new conference that the federal government changed its mind Sunday and is now sending 40,000 antibody treatment doses to Florida, where they’ll be used to treat the older people and other vulnerable populations.

The state Legislature has set aside nearly $1 billion to set up new antibody sites, the governor added, calling on the federal government to allow states to purchase these antibody doses directly.