Story at a glance
- Positive test rates and new confirmed infections fell for the first time since June in Florida and Miami-Dade County.
- This comes as Gov. DeSantis is pressuring schools to reopen for in-person classes.
New numbers from the Florida Department of Health provide a welcome reprieve from the devastating rates of coronavirus infections the Sunshine State has recorded over the summer. The state is now showing its lowest number of new cases since June.
The Miami Herald reported Sunday that Florida had 3,779 new cases, 900 of which came from Miami-Dade County. These figures are the lowest both the state and the county have seen since June 21.
Statewide, the average seven-day positive test rate is 9.1, a slight drop from the previous 9.7 recorded from the earlier week. The Herald notes that there tends to be less data entry over weekends, making Sunday’s case figures typically lower than weekday numbers.
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Miami-Dade is the second-highest U.S. county in terms of confirmed coronavirus cases, posting 145,307 in total, per The Herald and Johns Hopkins data. It trails behind Los Angeles County, with 221,971 confirmed cases.
Florida was one of the last states to issue a stay-at-home order as the pandemic swept the U.S., and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has yet to order a statewide face mask mandate to help curb the spread of the virus. As congregate settings such as bars and densely packed beaches remained open, the virus spread rapidly throughout Florida.
On a national level, states are grappling with the decision of whether or not to open schools as the 2020-21 academic year has either already started or is fast-approaching. While some states have left the choice up to individual counties, DeSantis’s administration has reportedly put pressure on schools to open for in-person classes, threatening to defund counties that chose to conduct school virtually.
Speaking to The Washington Post about Florida’s reopening plan for schools, K-8 Fort Braden School principal Jimbo Jackson recounted multiple deaths of school staff who died after contracting the virus, and recommended children remain home.
“I would encourage parents, if they have the ability to keep the children at home as distance learners, to do that until we see a drastic improvement in the numbers, or possibly through the discovery of a viable vaccine,” Jackson said.
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