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Florida News That Impacts You – October 21st, 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 for new COVID-19 cases has now declined for over 50 consecutive days. With 2,571 new cases reported on Wednesday, slightly lower than the prior Wednesday, Florida’s made daily progress in reducing the spread of COVID-19 for the longest consecutive period since the onset of the pandemic.
- COVID-19 hospitalizations have fallen below 2,500 for the first time since July 6th. 98 fewer Floridians are hospitalized with the virus today. There are currently 2,437 COVID-19 patients statewide.
- Brightline, which has been offline since the early days of the impact of the pandemic in Florida, announced they’ll resume operations November 8th. They also announced that as part of the re-launch of service, those who use the Brightline app to book a ride will get their first ride for free during November.
- Governor DeSantis has announced the state of Florida will not corporate with any federal inquiries into parents who contest local school boards. This comes on back of US Attorney General Merrick Garland issuing a directive to the FBI to investigate parents who contest local school boards for potential domestic terrorism. The directive was near verbatim what the teacher’s union-backed National School Board Association asked the AG to do. DeSantis also indicated the state would take further steps to secure parental rights in schools in the upcoming state session. This announcement comes after eight school boards, including Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County, have continued to violate Florida law by mandating masks for students without parental optouts.