Florida leads U.S. in COVID cases amid Delta-driven surge

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.