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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida on Thursday reported 13,965 new coronavirus cases and 156 deaths — breaking the state's previous record for highest single-day death toll since the start of the pandemic.
Why it matters: It's the second day this week that the state has broken its single-day death record, after 132 new fatalities were reported on Tuesday. Deaths tend to lag weeks behind new infections, and cases in Florida are continuing to rise dramatically.
- Yet Florida has relatively lax social distancing requirements and no statewide mask mandate from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
- The state has now reported over 315,000 total cases and more than 4,600 deaths.
The bottom line: "Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic. What we were seeing in Wuhan five or six months ago, now we are there,” said Lilian Abbo, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Miami, earlier this week.