Florida News that impacts you – February 25th, 2021
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Florida’s trend of new COVID cases continued lower as the Florida Department of Health reported 7,128 new diagnosed cases – fewer than Wednesday of last week. As a result, the weekly trend for daily cases dropped to just over 5,800 – the lowest since November 14th.
- First doses for COVID vaccines remain hard to come by across the state. For the sixth consecutive day more second doses were administered than first doses according to the FDOH’s daily vaccine report. Total first doses administered were only 21,000 on Tuesday - less than half of the prior week’s total which was below the total of two weeks ago...however...
- Governor DeSantis is pointing to the likely emergency authorization of Johnson and Johnson’s one dose vaccine candidate on Friday by the FDA as a significant positive catalyst in Florida. He said Florida would be ready to administer the J&J vaccines starting next week if allocated to Florida. The FDA’s review revealed an 86% efficacy rate for the new vaccine candidate on Wednesday. The FDA is set to make a decision on it tomorrow.
- Florida AG Ashley Moody has raised maximum awards for tips leading to successful arrests through Crime Stoppers from $5,000 to $9,500. While citing a continued decline in overall crime in Florida, she said violent crimes increased through the first half of 2020. Of particular concern were increases in Broward, Duval and Orange counties. She noted that tips to Crime Stoppers Florida have led to 5,000 cases being solved. Anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers can reported by dialing **TIPS
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