Thursday marked the third consecutive day state health officials reported a new record-high number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single day. The Florida Department of Health reported 253 deaths, July 30, increasing the statewide total to 6,586 fatalities.
State health officials also reported 9,956 new cases of COVID-19, Thursday, for a total of 461,379 cases. Yesterday marked the 37th consecutive day the state has reported more than 5,000 new cases in a single day.
Of the 3,584,193 tests that have been reported in Florida so far, 12.87% have been positive for the virus.
The Florida Department of Health reported 518 new coronavirus-related hospitalizations Thursday for a total of 26,017 hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic.
In the Southwest Florida region including Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota Counties state health officials reported 774 new cases of the virus, July 30, for a total of 42,168 cases.
There were also 15 new deaths reported in the Southwest Florida region, Thursday including seven new fatalities in Lee County, three new deaths each in Manatee and Sarasota Counties and one new fatality each in Collier and Hendry Counties for a total of 825 deaths.
Naples City Council members decided, Wednesday, not to impose a mandatory mask ordinance amid the current surge in new COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The Naples Daily News reports, city council members were considering whether to opt into a mandatory face covering requirement approved last week by Collier County Commissioners.
Four city councilors and Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann voiced opposition to a mask ordinance and just two city council members were in favor, so they didn't actually take a vote on the issue.
Instead, they voted to direct the city manager to explore a possible community education initiative aimed at promoting practices like mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing.
As school officials continue grappling with reopening classrooms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a major group of pediatricians has released recommendations aimed at reducing risks to children and teachers.
In a paper sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, points to “significant benefits” of children going back to school but also said those benefits must be weighed against the risks.
In making decisions about reopening campuses, the pediatricians’ report cited a World Health Organization recommendation about positive test rates being below five percent when averaged over a 14-day period, a number Florida has not reached.
One of the report’s authors, Pediatrician Dr. David Robinson said sending kids back too soon will lead to even more learning disruption.
“I fear if we go back to school with an infection rate of 12%, or even eight or nine percent, I am very afraid that within three or four weeks, everything will have to be shut down again,” said Dr. Robinson.
Earlier this month, State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an order requiring districts to reopen brick-and-mortar schools at least five days a week in August, unless state and local health officials direct otherwise.
The pediatricians’ document also provides a series of detailed recommendations for trying to curb the spread of the virus when schools reopen.
Among them are that students should be kept in small groups during the school day, children and teachers should maintain distances of six feet from each other in classrooms, and students above age five and teachers and staff members should wear masks.
Florida education officials canceled state exams this spring as public schools shifted abruptly online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush doesn’t want to see that happen again. He argued state testing is crucial to make sure students are receiving an equitable education, regardless of their families' income.
“If we excuse away the achievement gap and say it's not fair to test, then you're going to see a going back to a system where we had low expectations for low-income kids. And I will not be a party to that,” Bush said during a virtual panel discussion Thursday. “I will do whatever I can to make sure that we do not abandon accountability.”
Bush, a former two-term Republican governor who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, is the architect of Florida’s two-decade-old school accountability system. The system includes a controversial formula that uses student test scores to evaluate schools’ performance on an A-to-F scale. He also pioneered the law that requires third graders to pass a state reading test to move on to fourth grade, with some exceptions.
The Florida Education Association — a statewide union that has challenged Bush's education reform policies in court and been a longtime Bush foe — has already called on the state Department of Education to suspend testing, teacher performance evaluations and school grades for the upcoming academic year.
Bush's appearance Thursday was part of the National Charter Schools Conference. Bush is a major national advocate for charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, as well as other alternatives to traditional public education.
Upon leaving office in 2007, Bush founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a powerful advocacy group that promotes accountability as well as school choice policies nationally. A related statewide organization called the Foundation for Florida’s Future has worked in Tallahassee to keep Bush’s education legacy intact.
Bush’s foundations have also supported educational models where students advance at their own pace. During Thursday’s panel, Bush said the pandemic has created an opportunity to explore further individualization of students’ education.
Online learning could allow some students to move on to more advanced coursework while others get extra help, he said.
“We focus a lot on lower performing students — as we should. It is hugely important that these learning gaps are erased. It should be a national priority for our country. But we also hold back kids that could be learning at a more accelerated rate,” he said.
Bush expressed frustration that some school districts throughout the country struggled with the transition to online learning. He said education leaders need to solve problems more quickly and keep moving forward.
“What we need to start is having a bias towards action rather than paralysis,” he said, adding that the nation should be innovating rather than staying "in the corner in the fetal position.”
Gov. DeSantis' approval rating has declined sharply as new cases of COVID-19 and coronavirus-related deaths continue to surge.
A Mason-Dixon poll released Friday finds that 49% of Florida voters disapprove of the governor's job performance compared to 45% of respondents who approve.
The Herald Tribune reports, that marks a 17% drop from DeSantis' approval rating in a poll from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy a year ago.
While Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker have seen their popularity increase during the pandemic, critics of DeSantis say he's done little to halt the spread of the virus leading to Florida's current designation as a global hotspot for the coronavirus.
DeSantis has declined to impose a statewide mask mandate, refuses to roll back on business reopening efforts and continues to urge schools to reopen in August.
DeSantis' public comments this week have been dismissive of the rising coronavirus-related death toll, even as Florida health officials have reported three consecutive days of record high deaths reported in a single-day.
A recent CNN Survey finds that 63% of Floridians think DeSantis could be doing more to combat the pandemic including 88% of Democrats, 73% of Independents and 27% of Republicans.
Monroe County Sheriff's deputies arrested a Florida Keys couple infected with COVID-19, this week, for violating orders to self-quarantine and to wear masks.
The AP reports, deputies arrested the couple at their home, Wednesday, on a warrant accusing them of violating a quarantine order issued by the Florida Department of Health.
They posted bail and returned to their home Thursday. Arrests over mandatory mask or quarantine violations have been rare.
There's a wide disparity in turnaround times to get COVID-19 test results in Florida that's garnered the ire of some people, particularly in Central Florida.
The AP reports, there are several reasons for the disparity. Some have to do with lab staffing, backlogs or equipment shortages. Also, some COVID-19 tests are processed in house, while others have to be sent to labs outside the state.
However, basketball players, team staff, members of the media and anyone else inside the NBA's compound at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando are tested daily. That's lead to critics questioning why local, state and federal officials cannot seem to coordinate large-scale, organized testing, like the NBA.
