Florida now leads the nation in coronavirus cases, with its biggest spike since last summer, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Driving the surge: Hospitalizations and deaths are rising among the unvaccinated, while the small number of infected but vaccinated people are not getting seriously ill.
The big picture: Infections nationwide have tripled over the past three weeks, with about one in five new cases coming from Florida.
Statewide, new cases nearly doubled in the past week.
In Polk County, cases more than doubled from last week and hospitalizations doubled since 4th of July weekend, per the Lakeland Ledger.
Point of intrigue: Most of Florida's new cases are driven by the more infectious Delta variant, epidemiologist Dr. Vincent Hsu told WFLA.
Dr. David Dowdy with Johns Hopkins Hospitals drove home to. the outlet that vaccines are still effective against the Delta variant.
The bottom line: This is all proof the vaccines work.
