Florida coronavirus cases surpass 1.5M

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New coronavirus strain is about 70% more transmissible: expert

University of Washington Chief Strategy Officer of Population Health Dr. Ali Mokdad reacts to the new strain of coronavirus reaching the United States.

Florida surpassed 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 when approximately 15,000 new cases were identified Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health.

Overall, the Sunshine State appears to be third in the nation for most cases of COVID-19 reported to date, California and Texas, the two most populous states, are first and second respectively. 

Additionally, there were 156 new deaths in Florida from COVID-19, which brought the state’s total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 23,227. 

CORONAVIRUS IN THE US: STATE-BY-STATE BREAKDOWN 

Amid the sobering news also comes glimmers of hope, as state health officials noted that as of Tuesday, more than 648,000 people in the state have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with more than 51,000 people in the state receiving both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech jab or the Moderna one.