Florida records 1,071 COVID deaths in a week amid Delta variant surge in the state: Biden offers cash to school districts that defy governor DeSantis' mask mandate ban
Florida heath officials reported a record number of COVID-19 cases this week as Governor Ron DeSantis faces pushback to his ban of the mask mandate in schools.
Florida has set a new record for weekly infections for the third consecutive week as the state's health department recorded 151,415 new COVID-19 cases over the past week- a 12 percent increase in the last seven days- for an average of 21,630 cases each day.
The state also recorded an additional 1,071 deaths, a daily average of 153, in the health department's weekly report.
This brings the statewide total to 2,877,214 cases and 40,766 deaths.
These growing numbers come as the state set a record for COVID hospitalizations as it contends with a massive surge as the Indian 'Delta' variant dominates this new Covid wave.
Florida has set a new record for weekly infections for the third consecutive week as the state's health department recorded 151,415 new COVID-19 cases over the past week
DeSantis has described CDC recommendations to wear face masks as 'the most significant threat to freedom in my lifetime'
According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services , nearly 15,800 patients in Florida are hospitalized with the virus and more than 30 percent of all patients in Florida hospitals are sick with Covid as are over 50 percent of patients in intensive care units.
The state's positivity rate is at 19.3 percent, slightly up from 19.2 percent the week before, and a total of 384,328 new doses of vaccine have been administered in the last week, down from 434,172 doses the week before, the weekly report said.
Florida no longer reports daily COVID-19 cases, instead publicly revealing weekly counts every Friday.
The rising cases come as there has been pushback to governor DeSantis' mask mandate ban.
In July DeSantis issued an executive order to protect 'parents freedom to choose' whether or not their children had to wear mask in schools.
The order noted that 'children are at 'low risk of contracting a serious illness due to COVID-19' and said that 'forcing' children to wear masks could 'inhibit breathing, and adversely affect communications in the classroom and student performance,' among other things.
A group of over 800 Florida physicians published an open letter urging DeSantis to repeal anti-mask laws to protect Florida children
DeSantis has described CDC recommendations to wear face masks as 'the most significant threat to freedom in my lifetime,' and even accused the health agencies of 'medical authoritarianism.'
This comes after Florida department of Health clashed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and called them out for misreporting the state's COVID-19 numbers.
On Monday, the CDC reported 28,317 new COVID cases were recorded in Florida last Sunday, a record-high that was reported by multiple media outlets.
However, the DOH official Twitter account fired back and said the CDC had overcounted the true 15,000 total.
The state's DOH claimed that the CDC combined multiple days' worth of data into one, leading to an overreport of 13,000 cases.
DeSantis blasted the CDC for the error and also laid into Joe Biden earlier this week, claiming the president is more interested in attacking him to score political points than in halting the spread of the virus.
The Biden administration has pushed back against DeSantis and offered federal financial support to Florida school districts who are defying the governor's ban on mask mandates as the virus continues to surge.
In a letter to DeSantis and state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardonay said that that districts that lose state funding for complying with mask mandates would have federal funds available to them.
The Biden administration has pushed back against DeSantis and offered federal financial support to Florida school districts who are defying the governor's ban
The Florida DOE has discussed hashing out possible sanctions against school leaders in Alachua and Broward counties who have opted to enact stricter student mask mandates than allowed by the DeSantis administration, Politico reported.
'We are eager to partner with the Florida Department of Education on any efforts to further our shared goals of protecting the health and safety of students and educators,' Cardona wrote. 'If FLDOE does not wish to pursue such an approach, the Department will continue to work directly with the school districts and educators that serve Florida's students.'
State medical professionals are also objecting the governor's order.
Florida is currently the state with the most children hospitalized with COVID-19, the state department of health reported, with infection rates in children at over 19 percent.
A group of over 800 Florida physicians published an open letter urging DeSantis to repeal anti-mask laws to protect Florida children.
'As the virus burns through Florida, health care providers feel we are fighting this fire without any leadership from Gov. Ron DeSantis,' the letter said.
'With schools resuming and children returning to classrooms, Gov. DeSantis' anti-safety strategy puts people at risk, including children,' the letter added.