This is a recap of some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
The surge in new COVID cases continued Thursday with just under 20,000 new cases reported by the Florida Department of Health. This led to another high in the daily trend for cases which now exceeds 15,000 over the past week. Every zip code in South Florida has experienced a rise in new cases this week. The new, more contagious variant first diagnosed in Martin County has been confirmed to be responsible for dozens of new infections in our state. While the variant isn’t known to be more dangerous, it is 56% more contagious than the original strain according to the CDC.
Governor DeSantis provided an update on COVID vaccinations Thursday which included the news that Florida will receive a “double-dose” or 250,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines next week. He also offered the state’s first estimate on the number of Floridians who are eligible for vaccinations in Florida’s first phase. Of the approximate 4.4 million people eligible for vaccination, the state estimates around 3 million are seeking to be vaccinated.
After St. Pete Democrat Charlie Crist was among the first to attempt to press Vice President Mike Pence on the implementation of the 25th to remove President Trump from office, Orlando Democrat Val Demings, a prominent player in the impeachment proceedings in the debunked Russian collusion hoax, has now co-sponsored articles of impeachment against President Trump. The effort is being publicly supported by other Florida Democrats including Ted Deutch, Frederica Wilson, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Now, let's move over to jobs. There is some better news on the jobs front in Florida. After several weeks of rising unemployment filings, Florida started the new year with a decline in new weekly unemployment claims this week.
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