#Florida reports record daily COVID-19 death tally

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EMTs arrive with a patient while a funeral car begins to depart at North Shore Medical Center in Miami, Florida.
REUTERS

Florida health officials on Tuesday reported 132 more coronavirus deaths — the highest daily fatality figure since the pandemic began.

The state’s Department of Health also confirmed another 9,194 COVID-19 cases Tuesday, bringing Florida’s total number of infections to 291,629 and related deaths to 4,409.

The figures come during a virus surge in the Sunshine State, which has forced reopening plans to grind to a halt and has spurred new mask mandates in some counties.

The state’s previous daily death record was set this past Thursday when officials reported 120 new fatalities.

Gov. Ron Desantis on Tuesday held a round-table discussion with mayors from Miami-Dade County, the state’s epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

Desantis and other elected officials blamed people who refused to wear face masks or practice safe social distancing for the swift spread of the virus, the local Fox affiliate reported. DeSantis said he has allocated funding to increase contact tracing in the area.

“I think what we’ve found is, when people follow the guidelines, and they follow the program, we tend not to have major problems,” DeSantis said.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said in his district, “more than 30 percent of the people who are getting sick either reporting it from a family member or from home.”

Despite the uptick in new cases, DeSantis has refused to issue a statewide mask mandate. Local municipalities have taken it upon themselves to issue their own mask requirements, prompting furious responses from residents at times.

When Florida’s Palm Beach County moved to require masks in public settings, one enraged woman spoke at the public input session for the order, where she touted her “freedom of choice” while referring to the rule as “the devil’s law.”