COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Florida with record-setting one-day totals.

On Friday, the state's department of health reported 134,506 new COVID-19 cases for the week of July 30 - Aug. 5. It marked the highest number of cases for any other seven-day period during the pandemic.

On Saturday, Florida reported 23,903 COVID-19 cases in a record-breaking day. The second-highest one-day total was Thursday with 22,783 reported cases.

The surge in Florida has been ongoing since mid-July. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida at one point accounted for a fifth of the nation’s new infections -- more than any other state.

Georgia and Louisiana have also seen a surge, which has added pressure on hospitals. The CDC reported last week that Florida, Georgia and Louisiana account for nearly 40% of hospitalizations in the U.S.

“We are seeing a surge like we’ve not seen before in terms of the patients coming,” Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “It’s the sheer number coming in at the same time. There are only so many beds, so many doctors, only so many nurses.”

The highly contagious Delta variant is responsible for an estimated 83% of the new COVID cases in July and 97% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

According to the Mayo Clinic, 59.4% of Florida has been vaccinated with at least one dose.

In Jacksonville, the pastor of Impact Church told local media that six church members have died in less than two weeks. All were healthy but unvaccinated and four were under the age of 35.

There has been increased pressure on Gov. Ron DeSantis to take stronger measures to contain the surge. DeSantis has faced criticism for not issuing mask mandates.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told CNN on Sunday that Florida's local officials should have control of mask mandates.

Coronavirus