Florida governor insists state won't shut down amid record-breaking COVID cases and hospitalizations

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that his state will not shut down again despite a record-breaking influx of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, making the Sunshine State the nation's new virus epicenter. 

"We're not shutting down," DeSantis said Tuesday at a press conference. "These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic, not just in the United States but abroad. They have not stopped the spread. And particularly with Delta, which is even more transmissible, if it didn't stop it before, it definitely ain't going to stop it now."  On Friday, Florida reported 21,683 new infections, the most COVID-19 cases in the state in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Sunday, Florida had 10,207 people hospitalized from COVID-19 complications, which broke a previous record from more than half a year before vaccines were widely available, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.