Florida breaks COVID-19 hospitalization record for second time

Florida on Sunday broke another COVID-19 case record, with the virus having hospitalized more people than it did before the vaccine was created.

The state now leads the nation in hospitalizations per capita, as the number continues to rise, CBS reports.

The surge in virus cases across the county are largely begin attributed to the emergence of the highly-contagious delta strain, and the majority of deaths and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated. 

"That light did turn out to be a train in this case," Marsha Tittle, nursing manager at UF Health North, said to The Florida Times Union. "We’re taking more patients than we normally would take. ... My staff is wonderful. You walk out there, they’re going to have smiles on their faces and they’re doing a great job. But there’s a sense of defeat, like they’re just defeated."

According to the Florida Department of Health, there was a 50% increase in new weekly cases as the number reached over 110,000 from July 23 to July 29, as reported by NPR.

The CDC reports Florida accounts for nearly a fifth of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S, NPR also reports.

Though Florida has not broken its record for peak deaths, at least 400 people died from the virus this past week in the state.