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Florida reported the fewest new COVID-19 cases in two months on Monday. The 6,995 new cases were the fewest since the early days of the summer surge of cases led by the Delta variant. COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped by another 170 patients yesterday. 11,215 Floridians are now hospitalized with the virus which is a decline of greater than 6,000 patients over peak levels three weeks ago.
The Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach County School Districts all decided to continue to defy the Florida Board of Education’s rule mandating parental opt-outs for school mask mandates in violation of Florida law which was upheld by the First District Court of Appeal on Friday. Despite this action, the school districts retain no legal authority to enforce these mandates. The plaintiffs who brought the legal challenge to the state’s mask rule have appealed their case to the Florida Supreme Court.
Governor DeSantis announced the state will begin issuing $5,000 fines per instance of local governments mandating COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment effective Thursday.