Axios

Florida’s COVID-19 rates are worse than they have ever been. The state now makes up almost 20% of the entire caseload in the country. Meanwhile, in Texas, there were just 368 ICU beds available across the state as of Tuesday. These two states — and their schools — are heated battlegrounds over public health mandates and the way forward.

• Plus, Afghanistan’s security situation collapses.
• And, a Palestinian-American sprinter on her unlikely Olympic journey.

Guests: Axios' Mike Allen, Oriana González and Glen Johnson; Olympic sprinter Hanna Barakat

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, and Ben O'Brien. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Go deeper:

• The school districts defying Texas, Florida governors and mandating masks
• Pentagon to send troops to evacuate embassy staff from Afghanistan