Photo: Getty Images
Florida News That Impacts You – October 27th, 2021
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- With 2,024 new COVID-19 cases reported statewide on Tuesday, lower than the prior Tuesday, our weekly trend for daily cases fell once again. Florida is now averaging 1,970 daily cases over the past week – the lowest since June 29th. Related...
- Florida now has the lowest population adjusted COVID-19 rate in the country. Cases have now declined by greater than 90% since the August peak and while Florida led the country in population adjusted cases for two weeks in August, we’ve now passed Hawaii, which has significant travel restrictions in place, for the lowest rate in the country.
- In Broward, the School District has dropped the mask mandate for high school students while leaving one in place for elementary and middle school students. Mask mandates without parental optouts violate state law.
- Florida’s Surgeon General is speaking out amidst backlash regarding his refusal to wear a mask when meeting with state Senator Tina Polsky recently. On Tuesday, Dr. Joseph Ladapo stated he can’t communicate well with a mask on. Quoting Ladapo: Having a conversation with someone while wearing a mask is not something I find productive, especially when other options exist. It is important for me to communicate effectively with people. I can't do that when half of my face is covered. Ladapo offered to meet outside with Polsky which she refused.
- The state of Florida will no longer conduct business with Ben & Jerry’s or any of its parent, Unilever’s, companies. In July Ben & Jerry’s announced they’d remove all products from what it referred to as occupied Palestinian territory in Israel. Under law the state can’t conduct business with or invest in companies which are part of the BDS movement. Unilever had 90 days to change its position – which did not occur. The deadline was Tuesday. In addition to not conducting business with Unilever, the state will liquidate $139 million in Unilever stock.