Florida recorded a staggering number of new coronavirus infections Friday, its highest of the pandemic: 23,903. It’s the third time this week the state has broken its record for daily new cases, according to the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. Though Florida now accounts for one in every five new coronavirus infections for the entire country, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has prohibited school districts from imposing mask mandates as students return to classrooms. The U.S. has returned to an average of 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day, numbers that haven’t been seen since the catastrophic winter surge, when vaccines were not widely available.
