In the American southern state of Florida, more people died every day from being infected with the coronavirus in August than in any previous month since the pandemic began.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calculated a preliminary seven-day average of up to 244 deaths per day for August 2021.
In August 2020, the highest death rate in the Sunshine State so far, the health authority registered a value of 227.
According to the data presented by the CDC on Thursday, a total of more than 46,000 people in Florida had died after being infected with Sars-CoV-2 by the end of August.
The vaccination rate in the state, which has almost 22 million residents, is around 53 percent, which is the American average.
Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis is an advocate of low corona regulations.
High numbers of infections among children
In the past, the Republican spoke out against curfews, beach bans and mandatory vaccinations for hospital staff.
When the governor tried by executive order to prevent educational organizations from being required to wear a mask at the end of July, dozens of parents filed lawsuits.
A court in Leon County finally dismissed DeSantis' decree last week.
To justify it, it also called the delta variant, which spreads particularly quickly among schoolchildren. In the past week, Florida health officials reported nearly 30 percent more infections among children than the week before. The hospitals also had more young residents of the Sunshine State who had to be treated for corona.