TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — For the fifth time in seven days, the state of Florida has broken its daily COVID-19 new case record.
Numbers reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a daily caseload of 75,962 on Dec. 30.
On Thursday, the previous record was set at 58,013 new cases.
The data put out by the CDC shows Florida has confirmed nearly 4.2 million cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The increase in cases comes as the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to sweep across the country. Compared to the delta variant, omicron is much more transmissible, though notably less severe.
The Florida Department of Health only reports state numbers by the week, typically on Fridays, but feeds daily case numbers to the federal government. It is this data that the CDC has reported, showing the new record number of cases per day.
An update from FDOH is expected on Friday, New Year’s Eve. However, as its a holiday and the state government is closed for business today, through Jan. 2, 2022, it is unclear at this point if a report will come.
In the meantime, new testing sites have opened across Tampa Bay to help more people check their infection status as holiday gatherings continue for the new year.
