FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The number of COVID-19 variant cases detected in Florida has more than doubled in the newest data posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest statistics show 2,274 verified cases of the U.K. (B.1.1.7) variant in Florida, along with 42 cases of the Brazilian (P.1) variant and 14 case of the South African (B.1.351) strain.
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At the end of last week, the CDC’s numbers for Florida had shown 1,042 U.K. cases, 23 Brazilian and 10 South African.
Michigan is the only other state in the country with over 1,000 confirmed variant cases, and Florida now has over 2,300.
Infectious disease experts have said the totals reported represent a relatively small percentage of the actual number of variant cases in the community, as not all COVID-19 samples are sequenced to detect variants.
Local 10 News has sent numerous requests to the Florida Department of Health to share data of how many variants have been detected in each county.
Those numbers have long shown the highest concentration to be in South Florida, which raised further concerns as spring breakers flocked to the region in recent weeks.
To see the CDC’s latest variant data, click here.