THE DESANTIS FLU:

A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available.

The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients.

"We're not allowed to have mask mandates right now," Gelber replied. "We were one of the first cities to require it. We charged a fine just to get people to do it. The governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state when he did that. So we're in a very tough position."

"We are trying to do everything we can to get around the governor's very wrong-headed desires," he said. "The governor has made it as difficult as possible to make people safe."

"Interesting, the local Republican mayors, I think, are all on the side I'm on, which is they want to save the lives of their residents," Gelber said. "We'll do everything we can. The problem is he's really hamstrung us."

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