COVID-19 Update

Yesterday, August 1st, 2021

8,901 people were killed by COVID-19

99.8 % of them were not vaccinated

World

New Cases:   534,902 (⬆︎ .27%)
New Deaths:      8,901 (⬆︎ .21%)

USA

New Cases:   51,898 (⬆︎ .15%)
New Deaths:       241 (⬆︎ .04%)

USA Vaccination Scorecard

At Least One Dose: 191.0 million (57.5%)
Fully Vaxxed:           164.4 million (49.5%)

Florida Leading The Charge

Mercifully, the number of deaths has been "low". That said, if the current 7-day Moving Average holds, we'll be up around 700,000 dead Americans by the new year.

Axios:

Florida records most new daily COVID cases in state since pandemic began

Florida reported 21,683 new COVID-19 cases — the most in the state in a single day since the pandemic began, per data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday.

The big picture: Florida is now the U.S. coronavirus epicenter, with the Delta variant driving a surge, Axios Tampa Bay's Ben Montgomery notes.

Hospitalizations and deaths from the virus among the unvaccinated are increasing.

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has taken a stand against local authority restrictions, announcing in May that he would pardon "any Floridian" who faces "outstanding infractions" for violating COVID-19 guidance like mask mandates and social distancing.

On Friday, he issued an executive order that bars local school districts from requiring students to wear masks when they return to the classroom next month.

Of note: The new cases record released by the CDC occurred on Friday. The surge comes one day after the state recorded 17,093 new cases the previous day, according to the CDC.

"The previous peak in Florida had been 19,334 cases reported on Jan. 7, before the availability of vaccinations became widespread," AP notes.