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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/me...the-nation-what-e2-80-99s-going-on/ar-AASyQKx
Sun Sentinel
Florida’s COVID cases and hospitalizations are surging, but the state has the second-lowest death rate in the nation. What’s going on?
Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel - 7h ago
With COVID cases skyrocketing, Florida is experiencing one of the worst waves of the omicron variant in the United States.
Yet Florida’s death rate over the past seven days is the second lowest in the country, after only Alaska. What’s going on?
Even as record COVID cases in the U.S. were reported last week, deaths dipped slightly, and still, Florida’s death rate is distinctly low, particularly in a state with a large, vulnerable elderly population.
Experts say several factors could explain the currently low rate: Florida’s horrific toll from delta and its acquired resistance and vaccination rates may be buffering the state at a time when others states are contending with two variants. Or, because of the way Florida reports COVID deaths, which already tend to lag infections and hospitalizations, the true death rate from this recent wave may be too soon to know.
Only months ago, the state’s death rate was among the highest in the nation. The delta wave hit Florida hard, taking the lives of more than 22,000 people between June 15 and October 15. On its worst day for deaths during the delta wave, 403 people succumbed to the disease in Florida.
“Florida had the worst or second-worst outbreak in the country for delta,” said Dr. Howard Forman, a Yale physician, professor, and COVID tracker. “Because of that, there are a lot of people in Florida with infection-acquired immunity and vaccine acquired immunity against delta. By the time the omicron wave came, Florida had almost no delta, where places like New York were just beginning a delta wave when omicron appeared.”
Globally, omicron has not appeared as deadly as the delta variant.
World Health Organization officials noted that may be due to several factors — including rising vaccination rates in some places and signs that omicron affects the nose and throat more than the lungs, which previously triggered COVID deaths.
But it still may be too early to know how deadly omicron will be in the Sunshine State...
Sun Sentinel
Florida’s COVID cases and hospitalizations are surging, but the state has the second-lowest death rate in the nation. What’s going on?
Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel - 7h ago
With COVID cases skyrocketing, Florida is experiencing one of the worst waves of the omicron variant in the United States.
Yet Florida’s death rate over the past seven days is the second lowest in the country, after only Alaska. What’s going on?
Even as record COVID cases in the U.S. were reported last week, deaths dipped slightly, and still, Florida’s death rate is distinctly low, particularly in a state with a large, vulnerable elderly population.
Experts say several factors could explain the currently low rate: Florida’s horrific toll from delta and its acquired resistance and vaccination rates may be buffering the state at a time when others states are contending with two variants. Or, because of the way Florida reports COVID deaths, which already tend to lag infections and hospitalizations, the true death rate from this recent wave may be too soon to know.
Only months ago, the state’s death rate was among the highest in the nation. The delta wave hit Florida hard, taking the lives of more than 22,000 people between June 15 and October 15. On its worst day for deaths during the delta wave, 403 people succumbed to the disease in Florida.
“Florida had the worst or second-worst outbreak in the country for delta,” said Dr. Howard Forman, a Yale physician, professor, and COVID tracker. “Because of that, there are a lot of people in Florida with infection-acquired immunity and vaccine acquired immunity against delta. By the time the omicron wave came, Florida had almost no delta, where places like New York were just beginning a delta wave when omicron appeared.”
Globally, omicron has not appeared as deadly as the delta variant.
World Health Organization officials noted that may be due to several factors — including rising vaccination rates in some places and signs that omicron affects the nose and throat more than the lungs, which previously triggered COVID deaths.
But it still may be too early to know how deadly omicron will be in the Sunshine State...
