Some states are setting hospitalization records. Florida reported 11,515 hospitalizations for COVID-19 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous high of 10,170 reached in July 2020.
Louisiana also reached a new high of 2,112 hospitalizations. The previous peak of 2,069 occurred on Jan. 7.
Other states in the Deep South have seen steep increases in hospitalizations over the last month. During July, the seven-day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Mississippi rose from 177 to 783, and in Alabama, it rose from 291 to 1,280, according to data from the New York Times.