Florida is now the third state in the U.S. to top one million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Texas and California previously topped a million cases, with both states now reporting more than 1.2 million confirmed cases. Florida, per a CBS News rundown of Johns Hopkins University and Florida Department of Health data, surpassed one million cases on Tuesday with the reporting of an estimated 8,800 new cases. As for deaths, Florida has the fourth-highest total in the country with more than 18,600.
The Florida milestone is particularly notable given the widely panned messaging of Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican. Earlier this week, DeSantis announced that schools would remain open and in-person instruction would continue despite the troubling pandemic data in the state. DeSantis, per WPTV, also confirmed that he is still against a statewide mask mandate.
The U.S. at large, meanwhile, reported more cases of COVID-19 in November than nearly any other country has all year. The focus as of late, of course, has been the insistence of so many (too many) to engage in holiday-related travel despite warnings from the CDC and other health authorities that doing so would quite certainly further complicate the weeks and months of the pandemic ahead.
Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci made it clear that the recommended restrictions surrounding Thanksgiving would surely remain in place for the remaining 2020 holiday season.
"We said that these things would happen, as we got into the cold weather and as we began traveling, and they've happened," he said.
