For those still on the fence about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, Florida’s hospitalization stats might prove instructive. On May 3rd, Florida hospitals reported 3,067 people admitted with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. However, as of Sunday night, that figure had dropped by 31%, to just 2,098 patients in the hospital specifically because of the virus. And that same trend is playing out across the nation.

That dramatic decrease in serious cases comes as Florida surpassed the 8 million mark of fully vaccinated people as of Sunday evening, while another 2.28 million are partially vaccinated. The fully vaccinated population is about 37 percent of Florida’s total population of about 21.6 million people. Florida ranks 31st in the nation in percentage of the state population that has been vaccinated.

The state is also seeing dramatic decreases in new COVID-19 cases over that same period. On May 3rd, the weekly average for new cases was still above 4,800 new infections per day. As of Sunday evening, that average had dropped below 2,700 cases per day.  An improvement in COVID-19 deaths, however, remains elusive. Over the same three-week span, the state has actually marked a slight increase, from a 7-day running average of 56 deaths per day to 58 deaths per day as of Sunday.

With the Biden Administration only recently announcing that vaccinated individuals can shed masks and disregard social distancing precautions, it may take several more weeks before those changes in behavior can be measured in the data. Some experts believe the move could lead to increased cases, hospitalizations, and deaths nationwide, despite the vaccine effectiveness, as many millions of Americans still have not received the shot, and the vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective.

But for those who’ve had the vaccine, even if they are exposed to the virus, the chances are the symptoms of the disease will not be serious enough to require hospitalization. Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts lead the nation, with each of them over the 50 percent mark.