Surge fleeting, DeSantis says; Florida covid hospitalizations break record for third day

FILE - This May 4 2021 file photo shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, speaks during a news conference at West Miami Middle School in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, File)
FILE - This May 4 2021 file photo shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, speaks during a news conference at West Miami Middle School in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, File)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday downplayed a spike in covid-19 cases that's shattered state hospitalization records and strongly reiterated his vow not to impose a mask mandate or any business restrictions.

With the much-more-contagious delta variant now spreading exponentially, Florida hit 11,515 hospitalized patients Tuesday, breaking last year's record for the third-straight day and up from just 1,000 in mid-June.

DeSantis said he expects hospitalizations to drop in the next couple of weeks, asserting that the spike is seasonal as Floridians spend more time together indoors to escape the summer heat and humidity.

DeSantis credited his response to covid-19, which has focused on vaccinating seniors and nursing home residents, for the fact that fewer Floridians are dying now than last August. A year ago, Florida was averaging about 180 deaths per day during an early August spike, but last week it averaged 58 per day. However, 2,400 patients are in intensive care, and deaths generally don't spike until a few weeks after hospitalizations.

"Even among a lot of positive tests, you are seeing much less mortality than you did year-over-year," DeSantis said at a Miami-area news conference. "Would I rather have 5,000 cases among 20-year-olds or 500 cases among seniors? I would rather have the younger."

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DeSantis also said "media hysteria" on the swelling numbers could cause people having heart attacks or strokes to avoid going to an emergency room for fear of being infected. Doctors interviewed by The Associated Press acknowledged this happened during the early months of the pandemic, but say it's no longer true, and that they're treating the usual number of cardiac patients.

President Joe Biden criticized DeSantis and other officials who have moved to block the reimposition of mask mandates. He called on resistant Republican governors to "get out of the way" of vaccine rules.

"If you're not going to help, at least get out of the way of people trying to do the right thing," Biden said.

Dr. O'Neil Pyke, chief medical officer at Jackson North Medical Center in Miami, said many Florida hospitals are facing staffing shortages. Hospitals also report putting emergency room patients in beds in hallways, and some are again banning visitors or postponing elective surgeries.

"They're just coming in faster than we discharge them," said Justin Senior, CEO of Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance, which represents some of the state's largest hospitals caring for low-income patients.

Penny Ceasar, who handles admissions at a hospital near Fort Lauderdale, wants the governor to require vaccinations for health care workers and masks for everyone. She said that although Westside Regional Medical Center has been getting temporary staff from other states, the alarming number of new patients is taking a toll.

"You're on an emotional roller coaster because we care for our patients like we care for our families," said Ceasar, a 30-year veteran.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 50,000 new covid-19 cases in Florida over the past three days, raising the seven-day average to one of the highest counts since the pandemic began. In total, the state has seen more than 2.6 million cases and 39,179 deaths.

SPIKES ELSEWHERE

In Louisiana, which has seen new infections skyrocket to the highest point of the pandemic, the governor implemented a statewide indoor mask mandate as hospitals are again delaying elective surgeries and limiting visitors. Disney World and Las Vegas, destinations for tourists craving a return to normalcy, are also mandating masks again.

While much of the country wrestles with new masking guidance and new evidence of the dangers of the delta variant, public health authorities and doctors in the states hit hardest by the latest surge are confronting a new stage of the pandemic unlike anything they have seen.

Infections are tearing through their communities faster than before, even with significant chunks of their population immunized through vaccinations or natural antibodies from infections. Hospitals are struggling to keep up as their beds rapidly fill with young and middle-aged unvaccinated adults.

They are illustrations of how quickly communities under assault from the delta variant can slip from normalcy to crisis mode and why public health authorities are sounding alarms even before cases in their communities surge.

"Eliminating the virus is no longer an option," said Dave Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "This is about trying to minimize the impact."

Average daily new U.S. cases over the past month surged past 85,000 on Monday, surpassing last summer's peak and now the highest since Feb. 18. Hospitals are treating about 50,000 covid-19 patients, a census that more than doubled in two weeks though it remains below last summer's levels. Deaths have risen slightly to about 370 a day though far below the 1,000 daily averages in early August last year.

"Delta spreads like wildfire. But vaccines contain that fire and will eventually help to put it out," said Aditi Nerurkar, a physician at Harvard Medical School. "For now, our shared goal must be to vaccinate everyone and avoid breeding vaccine discontentment. Vaccines continue to be the surest bet to keep people out of hospitals, ICUs and the obituary pages."

The early-summer outbreak in sparsely vaccinated Missouri has started to level off after five weeks, suggesting the delta surges may resemble those in the United Kingdom and India, with steep spikes followed by deep plunges. But Missouri also has proved to be a harbinger for sparsely vaccinated communities struck by the delta variant -- and for their better-vaccinated neighbors who still have a large number of susceptible residents.

While much of the summer surge has been concentrated in several Southern states, experts fear other states with lower vaccination rates will see their upticks abruptly soar.

Rubin, who monitors trends nationwide, said he is watching signs of emerging surges in Texas and California and potential fall spikes in Upper Midwest states with lower vaccination rates, such as Ohio and Indiana.

He stressed that the delta variant is more easily spreading and replicating in a country that has almost fully reopened, unlike in earlier stages of the pandemic.

"We are seeing the natural evolution of a virus without any masking or distancing," Rubin said. "It's a completely different environment for transmission."

Arkansas, battling a surge that appears to have spilled over from Missouri in late June, continues to confront one of the fastest rates of new infection. Hospitals in Northwestern Arkansas reported treating 146 patients as of Friday, surpassing its winter peak. They are bracing for things to get worse, particularly because social distancing measures led to little to no flu or pneumonia last year.

"I expect through the fall and winter it's going to be a big strain on not just our health system but really all health systems," said Eric Pianalto, president of Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas.

TARGETING HOLDOUTS

New York City, Microsoft, Tyson Foods and the U.S. auto industry Tuesday joined a cascading number of state and local governments and major employers that are taking a hard line against both the surge and the holdouts who have yet to get vaccinated.

"The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we're going to stop the delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in announcing that New York will demand people show proof of covid-19 vaccination at indoor restaurants, shows and gyms.

The hard-line measure -- the first such step taken by a big U.S. city -- takes effect in mid-August.

Meat and poultry giant Tyson said it will require all of its about 120,000 U.S. employees to get the shot over the next three months. Microsoft will demand that its roughly 100,000 U.S. employees -- as well as visitors and others -- show proof of vaccination starting in September.

And an estimated 150,000 unionized workers at the big three U.S. automakers will have to go back to wearing masks starting today, while nonunion Toyota, with a U.S. workforce of about 36,000, said it will do likewise at most of its sites across the country.

MANDATE IN HOUSTON

Houston city workers are being told they must resume wearing masks while on the job, a requirement that could go against Gov. Greg Abbott's most recent executive order banning such mandates.

Mayor Sylvester Turner issued the mask mandate Monday because of a "recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in our community and in our workplace linked to the new delta variant."

"It is so very important that we remain vigilant in doing our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19," Turner wrote in a memo to city employees.

The order requires all employees to wear a mask while on city premises and when they can't be socially distant from others.

Officials in Dallas and Williamson counties this week put in place new orders requiring people to wear masks in county courthouses. They cited a Texas Supreme Court order they say lets the judiciary take reasonable actions to protect people from covid-19.

Last month, Abbott repeated his executive order banning mask mandates by any state, county or local government entity. He has said those attempting to impose mandates could be fined up to $1,000.

MISSISSIPPI SHOTS UP

In Mississippi, one of the country's least-vaccinated states, the number of people getting shots is increasing slightly as infections surge.

About 53,000 people received either a first or second dose of vaccine the week of July 25-31, according to numbers released Tuesday by the state Department of Health. That's after the state reported hitting a low of about 20,000 vaccinations for the week of July 4-10.

The last time vaccination rates were so high was between April 25 and May 1, when 55,638 people were inoculated.

About 1.2 million people in the state of about 3 million have received at least one dose.

"We need 1 million more immune Mississippians to reach population immunity," State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted Tuesday. "Delta is deadly."

Mississippi still lags far behind other states, with about 35% of the population fully vaccinated. In Vermont, it's more than 67%.

All of Mississippi's major hospitals say they are once again at capacity.

DOCKING IN PUERTO RICO

Elsewhere, the Carnival Mardi Gras docked in Puerto Rico on Tuesday -- the first time a cruise ship has visited the U.S. territory since the pandemic began.

Some people cautiously celebrated the arrival. It comes as Puerto Rico has reported an increase in covid-19 cases but also as it seeks to restart its crucial tourism sector, which depended largely on record numbers of cruise ship passengers in recent years.

Carlos Mercado, executive director of Puerto Rico's Tourism Co., said the government took several precautions, including allowing only those who are fully vaccinated to disembark.

He said the ship was traveling at 70% capacity, with some 4,500 people aboard, and that he estimates a total of 3,500 will disembark. Mercado noted that 95% of the ship's passengers are vaccinated, with children younger than 12 making up the majority of those who are not.

The visit was expected to generate some $360,000 during the nine hours that the ship is docked in the historic part of Puerto Rico's capital, Old San Juan.

"This is incredibly important for us," Mercado said, noting that Puerto Rico's hotel and aviation sector has boomed in recent months. "This is what we were missing."

Information for this article was contributed by Terry Spencer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Kelli Kennedy, Freida Frisaro, Mike Catalini, Karen Matthews, Bobby Caina Calvan, Alexandra Olson, Tom Krisher, Juan A. Lozano, Danica Coto, Carlos Rivera and Leah Willingham of The Associated Press; and by Fenit Nirappil, Ashley Cusick, Eric Adelson, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jacqueline D. Dupree of The Washington Post.

Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative, a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Local resident Stephanie Hernandez takes a selfie in front of Carnival's Mardi Gras cruise ship, docked in the bay of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, marking the first time a cruise ship visits the U.S. territory since the COVID-19 pandemic began. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)
Local resident Stephanie Hernandez takes a selfie in front of Carnival's Mardi Gras cruise ship, docked in the bay of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, marking the first time a cruise ship visits the U.S. territory since the COVID-19 pandemic began. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

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