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After the recent improvement in new COVID-19 cases, Florida had a peak day on Wednesday with 26,206 cases reported. The overall weekly trend remains below the peak levels reached last week. Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations ticked up on Wednesday with 17,164 Floridians hospitalized with COVID-19, that's an increase of 76 patients. Hospitalizations remain below the recent peak levels.
As the trial brought by parents seeking to strike down the Florida Department of Education’s rule mandating parental choice for the masking of their children at school wrapped up Wednesday in Leon County; the Palm Beach County School District joined Broward in voting to direct their counsel to seek outside legal counsel for the purpose of suing the state over the parental choice option. The vote came after hours of public comment from parents challenging the school district’s mandatory mask policy. I received numerous accounts and video evidence of hostile treatment towards parents carried out by law enforcement at the direction of the board. This included an arrest and threats directed at parents who “clapped too loudly” by chair Frank Barbieri.
Lastly, the Florida Chamber of Commerce released a report stating Florida has recovered 950,000 of the 1.3 million jobs lost due to the pandemic in 2020. Notably, there are now more job openings in Florida than prior to the pandemic, meaning that the remaining “lost jobs” are currently a byproduct of employers unable to fill openings as opposed to a lack of opportunity.