FL, Four Other States Account For Half Of New U.S. COVID-19 Cases

FLORIDA — Florida is among just five states that are behind nearly half of all new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past seven-day period.

When combined, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reported around 197,500 new COVID-19 cases. This makes up 44 percent of all new cases in the U.S., NBC News determined using data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. During that same seven-day period, there were more than 452,000 new cases of the virus across the country.

In Florida, nearly 6,000 new cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the Sunshine State since the start of the pandemic to 2,096,747, according to state data.

Between March 30 and Monday, a seven-day period, 36,812 new cases were reported in Florida, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

The number of new cases reported in Florida every seven-day period has remained steady in recent weeks, CDC data shows:

• March 23-29: 35,357 cases reported.
• March 16-22: 30,916 cases reported.
• March 9-15: 30,695 cases reported.
• March 2-8: 36,622 cases reported.
• Feb. 23 - March 1: 37,073 cases reported.
• Feb. 16-22: 41,017 cases reported.

The steady number of cases in Florida is largely driven by a surge in the mutated and more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus that originated in the United Kingdom.

Florida far outpaces other areas of the country with 3,192 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant confirmed in the state as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the CDC. There are 16,275 total recorded cases of this variant in the U.S., which means Florida accounts for nearly 20 percent of all cases.

The cases identified are just a sampling of the actual total number of variant cases reported, the CDC said.

Dr. Jason L. Salemi, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, told Spectrum News that Florida’s large percentage of variants is likely caused by tourism. Florida’s theme parks and beaches continue to be a destination for visitors from across the country.

“And it's certainly been quite a while since we've been locked down in any way from any sort of tourists coming in,” Salemi said, adding that “if the variant emerges elsewhere, they are more likely to bring it into the state.”

Dr. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist, told Spectrum News that children likely spread the B.1.1.7 variant more frequently than adults, calling the strain “a brand-new ball game.”

"It infects kids very readily. Unlike previous strains of the virus, we didn't see children under 8th grade get infected often or they were not frequently very ill, they didn't transmit to the rest of the community," he said.

Dr. Cindy Prins with University of Florida Health told CBS 4 News, "I think what's happening is people are just taking fewer precautions and doing more risky activities, than they were doing before. I think we need to be concerned with the increase in variant cases. We still have to take precautions. It's springtime, and everyone's feeling the need to just get out and go do those things that they want to do. I feel that as well. But we have to continue our precautions."