Florida reported 26,203 new COVID-19 infections and nine deaths Tuesday, according to data posted Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A seven-day “moving” average for infections was 21,604 cases as of Tuesday. Cumulatively, Florida has had 3,130,144 cases of COVID-19 and 42,731 deaths since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, according to the federal government data.
Meanwhile, 50 Florida hospitals on Wednesday reported having critical staffing shortages, while 47 reported expecting critical staffing shortages by the end of the week.
Patients with COVID-19 filled 17,164 inpatient beds, and 2,271 adults and 90 children were admitted to hospitals on Tuesday with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to data posted on the federal Department of Health and Human Services website.
A little more than 94 percent of the state’s adult intensive-care unit beds were occupied. Nearly 36% of the inpatients in Florida have COVID-19, according to the data.
