The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in Florida has topped 10,000, and the number of daily new infections has exceeded 21,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread. Florida accounts for about one in five COVID-19 cases nationwide. On Friday, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order making masks optional in public schools. The United States is now averaging about 80,000 new cases a day — about six times as many as a month ago. On Sunday, top White House coronavirus adviser Anthony Fauci spoke to ABC and warned the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Dr. Anthony Fauci: “Things are going to get worse. If you look at the acceleration of the number of cases, the seven-day average has gone up substantially. You know, what we really need to do, Jon, we say it over and over again, and it’s the truth — we have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated.”