COVID-19

President Joe Biden says the rule will be released “soon,” though he did not give a specific date. Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state will contest it immediately to protect the jobs of Floridians.

Dr. Leandris Liburd, associate director for minority health and health equity at CDC, explains the urgency in a conversation with WLRN's Veronica Zaragovia.

The state has seen its cases and hospitalizations decline, but an analysis from the New York Times finds Florida's deaths per 100,000 are third highest in the country over the past seven days.

The U.S. donation from its domestic supplies comes on top of the 50 million doses previously donated to Africa, which world health officials say is 500 million doses short of its goal.

The recommendation applies to people 65 years and older, those 18 to 64 who are at high risk of severe COVID and those whose work or institutional exposure puts them at high COVID risk.

The Tampa Water Department switched to chlorine from liquid oxygen, which was being diverted to area hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients.

The Department of Health says the list is not of suspected or confirmed violators and “includes all entities that have been the subject of complaints from the public regarding the vaccine passport law.”

Dr. Washington Hill has worked as an OB-GYN for more than 50 years, and specializes in high-risk pregnancies.

The bill, filed by Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, would put the prohibition on school mask requirements into state law.

Florida health officials say the number of COVID cases is continuing to trend down, but the president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association tells legislators that staffing concerns remain.