Florida suffers 'largest single-day increase' in COVID-19 deaths ever: report

The state of Florida on Thursday revealed it had suffered what the Miami Herald calls the "largest single-day increase" in COVID-19 deaths "in pandemic history."

In total, writes the Miami Herald, Florida reported 21,765 COVID-19 cases and 901 COVID-19 deaths, even as Gov. Ron DeSantis has remained adamant about trying to stop schools from mandating masks for students and faculty.

"All but two of the newly reported deaths occurred after July 25, with about 78% of those people dying in the past two weeks, according to Herald calculations of data published by the CDC," the paper writes. "The majority of deaths happened during Florida's latest surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the delta variant."

Florida has been hit hard by the delta variant of the novel coronavirus, a problem that's been compounded by the fact that just over 51 percent of Florida residents have been fully vaccinated against the virus.