The number of Florida seniors entering the hospital for COVID dropped sharply over the past month, an indication that the vaccination campaign begun in December has been effective in protecting the group most vulnerable to the disease. Hospitals have registered a 46% drop in admissions for COVID patients aged 70 or over since mid-February, an encouraging sign in the fight against the pandemic. And since COVID deaths are typically preceded by hospitalizations, the drop is an indication that the death rate may continue to fall... From the start, Gov. Ron DeSantis prioritized protecting seniors, and early in the vaccination effort he disregarded federal guidelines and announced he would make the shots available to all state residents aged 65 and up. On Friday, at a news conference in Lakeland, he pointed to the success of that effort.