Coronavirus Florida

The early drafts of the analysis showed that catching COVID-19 could increase the chances of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the vaccine, but that information was missing from the final version.

The U.S. Travel Association estimated that international travel to the U.S. was 34 percent below pre-pandemic levels.

The case increase comes amid a nationwide surge in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across the country.

Visit Florida estimates the state attracted 35 million travelers during the third quarter, a 6.9 percent increase from 2021. The estimate was also 8% above the same period of 2019, before the pandemic.

While the latest surge seems to be slowing down, recent data shows that at least 79,573 residents have died with COVID and more than 7 million cases have been reported.

A potential class-action lawsuit is moving ahead against Florida State University because of a campus shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number has risen over the last two months due to spread of subvariants of the coronavirus. The state has topped 60,000 new cases every week since the week of May 13-19.

With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for kids from 6 months to 5 years old expected as early as next week, Florida is in the national spotlight. It was the only state not to request the vaccine from the federal government.

The emergency authorization paves the way for vaccinations for children under 5 to begin next week. A final signoff from the CDC is expected this weekend.

One expert expects the state to hit a peak, and then start to see lower hospitalizations and cases.

About 40 inmates have tested positive for the virus, a spokeswoman says.

A number of counties across the greater Tampa Bay region are at a high risk of transmission with case counts as high as they’ve been since mid-February, part of a national surge arriving ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.