PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — In the past four years, Pinellas County schools have seen a stunning increase of 555 percent in the use of tobacco products by students.

"We know of that number, 96 percent of that 555 percent increase is all from electronic cigarettes, vapes, Juuls, things like that," district spokeswoman Lisa Wolf-Chason said.

It's a problem the school district is tackling with the help of tobacco clinics that are held once a month at Dixie Hollins High and Clearwater High. Instead of a suspension, first-time offenders who enroll learn about the dangers of vaping and e-cigarette use and available resources.

Wolf-Chason says of about 60 students who received a tobacco infraction so far this school year, just fewer than two dozen enrolled in the class, nearly all cited for vaping or using e-cigarettes.

"We know that if we're seeing an increase in schools, that it's happening across the board, so we want to educate as many people as possible," she said.

The clinics are held in partnership with Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. It, too, is seeing first-hand the effects of the youth vaping epidemic.

"We've seen such an exponential growth in use in such a short amount of time," said Dr. Jasmine Reese, the hospital's director of the adolescent and young adult specialty clinic.

But hard numbers of vaping-related hospitalizations are hard to come by in the Bay area and statewide. Of the three largest states in the country, Florida is the only one that hasn't revealed yet exactly how many cases are being investigated. The California Department of Public Health has identified 70 cases, and the Texas Health and Human Services Department is looking into 25.

For more than three weeks, Spectrum Bay News 9 requested the number of reported lung disease cases possibly linked to vaping from the Florida Department of Health. Finally, on September 12, the Florida DOH Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida posted online that agencies are looking into "several potential reports of illness."

On the same day, the Florida Department of Health also issued an alert to clinicians and providers urging them to report cases of unexplained pulmonary illness possibly linked to e-cigarette use. The alert also explained reporting recommendations for health care providers.

We reached out to Gov. Ron DeSantis's office to ask why Florida hasn't released the exact number of cases and how the state should respond to the growing concerns about youth vaping. We have yet to hear back.

Spectrum Bay News 9 also asked other Bay-area school districts how many students have been caught with vapes or e-cigarettes during the first month of school.

So far, we've heard from Manatee County. Student Services Director George Schrier says 49 students have violated the district's tobacco policy as of today, and the youngest is in sixth grade. Schrier adds that the number is down from last year.