Over 55 Kids Hospitalized For COVID-19 Every Single Day In Florida Right Now

Nearly 60 kids are hospitalized in Florida every day, according to daily hospitalization averages for the last week

As the Delta variant spreads out of control, the CDC reports that for the week ending August 15, 2021, an average of 56 kids were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida, every single day.

In Florida (per the CDC), the daily average for the last week (for the week ending August 15, 2021) is that 56 kids under 18 are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 every single day. I repeat, an average of 56 children with COVID-19 are being admitted to the hospital every day in Florida right now.

For reference, 297 kids are being hospitalized every day with COVID across the entire U.S. which is awful and shouldn’t even be happening, but that means that Florida is contributing to nearly 1/5th of the country’s pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations. The same is happening across all age groups in Florida, actually. A fifth of the nation’s hospitalizations are in Florida now and more than 90% of the state’s intensive care unit beds are filled, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services (via Reuters).

“Our hospitals are working to maximize their available staff and beds, including the use of conference rooms and cafeterias,” Florida Hospital Association President Mary Mayhew said in a statement on Friday, August 13, 2021.

The data on hospitalizations for those under 18 in Florida shows a shocking spike beginning in July 2021.

“This is not last year’s COVID. This one is worse and our children are the ones that are going to be affected by it the most,” Sally Goza, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN on Saturday (via Reuters).

These alarming pediatric hospitalizations are coming out of the same state that won’t let schools create mask mandates that would protect their kids from contracting COVID-19 in the first place.

For example, Hillsborough County Public Schools, a Florida school district that encompasses around 220,000 students, has already had nearly 6,000 students and staffers quarantining within the first week of in-person learning. This includes people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are now isolating, as well as those who have had close contact with a positive case and are now in quarantine.

So far, a handful of school districts in Florida have defied the governor’s orders and have instated mask mandates to protect their kids. As more data comes out about COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths and as Floridians realize how much this virus is affecting children now more than ever before, we hope other schools (and eventually the entire state) realize how dangerous this is and enforce mask-wearing to protect their kids and prevent more little ones from being hospitalized for this terrible virus.