COVID-19 Florida

The Florida Department of Health is accused of violating public records laws by turning down requests for daily COVID-19 data.

Florida is the third state to reach that mark, behind California and Texas. It had previously taken months for the state to add 1 million cases, but Florida's total grew from 4 million to past 5 million in less three weeks.

The state had nearly 126,000 more people test positive since Friday.

As the number of new cases continues to climb, so does the test positivity rate, which topped 31% statewide in the week ending Thursday. All seven counties in the greater Tampa Bay region posted rates over 20%.

Between Sunday and Thursday, hospitalizations rose 55% to 8,406 people. Nearly 1,000 people were in intensive care beds.

The state is nowhere near its peak of about 17,000 coronavirus hospitalizations during the delta surge.

The number of cases reported last week in Florida grew by 298,455, according to data released by the state Department of Health on Friday. That's more than double the number of cases from the previous week.

Friday’s report marks a single-day record for the number of new cases in Florida.

By mid-morning, the city was asking people to come prepared to stand for extended periods of time outdoors. They recommended people consider bringing water, a folding chair, and a family member to accompany them.

The omicron variant is driving the latest spread, with Florida's seven-day average of new cases hitting 29,479 Tuesday, another record.

The positivity rate for the week more than doubled from 2.6% last week to 5.4% this week.

Guidelines released last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allow all visitors, excluding those that have recently tested positive for the coronavirus.