NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – Florida is one of the states dealing with a severe spike of COVID-19 cases, as doctors are trying to control the new “Delta variant.”
Several Northeast Florida counties are seeing the most cases they have since this time last year. In Nassau County, the number of cases has more than doubled in just the last seven days.
RELATED: Greater Jacksonville driving Florida’s COVID-19 surge
The Nassau County Emergency Management is now planning several testing and vaccination opportunities throughout the county this week.
“Case numbers are fast approaching the highest numbers seen since before vaccine became widely available in Florida,” a statement reads, then outlined all the places where the Department of Health is giving free, no-appointment vaccines this week.
Please see the below Press Release from Nassau County Emergency Management: PUBLIC INFORMATION RELEASE – 07/16/2021...
Posted by Nassau County, FL on Saturday, July 17, 2021
The Florida Department of Health says the number of people getting the vaccine has dropped about 80% since its peak in April.
Data shows more than 3,200 people are in hospitals right now with COVID-19. That’s a 73% increase since the middle of June
Dr. Sunil Joshi, president of the Duval County Medical Society Foundation, said the trend is incredibly concerning.
“That’s going to be devastating to the psyche of our community... when seeing the numbers increasing the way they’re increasing and not moving forward with vaccinations,” Joshi said.
Earlier in the pandemic, state officials posted a dashboard tracking the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and available hospital beds. Last month, the state stopped publishing the data because hospitalizations were falling.
Over the last week, with a rise of hospitalizations in Jacksonville, News4Jax asked state officials if they’ll publish this information again, but they haven’t answered.