Recent weeks have seen a worrying surge in COVID-19 cases in Florida. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of cases recorded in the seven days ending Jan. 11 averaged out to 4,523 per day, compared to 1,665 per day during the week ending Nov. 23.
Epidemiologist Jason Salemi with the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health believes this surge is due to a combination of a holiday spike and a new subvariant of the virus, informally known as the "Kraken" variant. He notes that while the number of people hospitalized with a confirmed case of COVID-19 is still far fewer than the 17,000 patients hospitalized at times during the delta surge in 2021, the number of people in intensive care has more than doubled since before the holidays.
Salemi expects this surge in COVID infections could continue due to the transmissibility of the Kraken variant and the challenge of ensuring adequate vaccine boosters. He adds that while it remains unclear how well vaccine- or infection-acquired immunity will protect people from getting the virus, evidence shows the updated booster shots work well against the omicron variants when it comes to preventing severe illness.
The current surge has highlighted the importance of vaccination in controlling the spread of the virus. Florida has one of the worst rates for COVID vaccine boosters in the country, making it even more imperative that individuals are vaccinated to help keep the spread of the virus at bay.