JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Over the last week hospitals in Northeast Florida have seen nearly double the number of COVID hospitalized patients.
Chad Neilsen, Director of infection prevention at UF Health, says the Delta variant may be the reason to blame.
“Overall, it’s not a surprise we’re seeing a rise in cases we know the delta variant is more contagious. There is some research out there showing it may also responsible for a more severe disease," said Neilsen.
Neilsen says across the U.S. and here in Florida, the number of Delta variant cases as a total percentage of positive tests has been increasing.
“It appears that the rate that Delta is gaining a foothold in the overall in samples is almost doubling week to week," said Neilsen.
Neilsen says the state tracks the Delta variant by a sampling strategy.
“Those test from some clinics get sent to the state department of health as a part of a random sample and the department of health laboratories across the state will the genomically test these sample of COVID-19," said Neilsen.
The state department of health is then able to identify the variant.
Megan Figuerrez a wife and mother of two girls shared her concerns about the contagious variant.
“I'm vaccinated my husband's vaccinated but the majority of Jacksonville is not," said Figuerrez.
Since Figuerrez’s kids are too young to be vaccinated she plans to stick to protocol until they are.
“I'm still trying to keep them as distanced as possible. They still wear their mask. I try to wear mine as many times as I can that way I'm not bringing anything home to them," said Figuerrez.