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No action was taken by any of the eight school districts, including Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach, who were found to have violated state law for imposing school mask mandates without parental opt-outs, over the weekend. The Florida Board of Education provided the districts with 48 hours to come in compliance with the law or face financial sanctions on Thursday. The deadline expired over the weekend. Six of the districts are attempting a third lawsuit against the state after failing on their previous two challenges.
Florida entered this week averaging fewer than 3,500 new daily COVID-19 cases over the prior week. Florida’s trend for new cases is now the lowest in over three months. Florida ended the week with 3,867 COVID-19 hospitalizations, the fewest since July 15th.
In other news, the Seminole Tribe confirmed sports betting won’t begin this week in Florida. Under the new state law, which enabled sports betting with a new Seminole Compact, October 15th was the date sports betting would be able to commence legally in the state. The plan, which included the Seminole Tribe hosting sports betting services for all participating entities across the state, has been the subject of lawsuits at the state and federal level. While nothing has been finalized, it is possible the Tribe begins sports betting services specific to their properties, in the near future.