Florida News that impacts you – July 23rd
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis reiterated Wednesday that all parents and students should have an option between online learning and classroom education. Currently Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County School Districts are positioned to only offer delayed online education options. Palm Beach County voted Wednesday to offer online-only options to start the school year on August 31st. This week CDC Director Robert Redfield and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn both told me schools should be open ASAP. They made clear medical science is on the side of classroom education. This has not been reported by other South Florida media outlets or acknowledged by the school districts.
- A study from the University of West Florida found Floridians dramatically increased social interactions just prior to the spike in COVID-19 cases starting in late May into June. Here’s the summation from the study: Our results show that Floridians decreased social contacts before the lockdown, which supports the commonsense school. On the other hand, they did not maintain it long enough to avoid epidemic spread. Government mandates did not appear to help, either. This period and the related cellphone data coincide with the onset of protests.
- Five additional coronavirus test sites have been opened in Broward and Miami-Dade. The locations are: Dillard High School 2501 NW 11th Street Fort Lauderdale, Blanche Ely High School 1201 NW 6th Avenue Pompano Beach, MacArthur High School 6501 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, Miami Jackson High School 1751 NW 36th Street Miami, Miami-Dade Auditorium 2901 W. Flagler Street Miami.
- South Florida home sales dropped by 15%-22% based on county, year over year, in June. The sales decline was largely a product of lower inventory. As a result, prices rose by an average of 5%, reaching record highs. A combination of high demand for the homes which were available and record low interest rates drove prices higher.