Orange County officials have taken a stand against Gov. Ron DeSantis over the age limits for COVID-19 vaccination eligibility.
Mayor Jerry Demings has decided to strengthen the measures DeSantis already had in place to combat the pandemic. Starting Monday, Florida residents 50 and older are eligible to receive the COVID vaccine. The announcement came after state officials announced that over 2 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state of Florida. Orange County officials went further, allowing residents 40 and older to receive the vaccine.
DeSantis was less than pleased about the county’s decision.
“It’s not his decision to make. So, you know, it’s just, there’s a structure in the state of Florida in terms of how these decisions are made” said DeSantis.
In the prior week, vaccination sites in Orange County had no wait times toward the end of the day and a surplus of available vaccinations.
Tampa Bay area expected to receive economic boost in the midst of spring break season
Tampa Bay officials expect an economic boost with spring break having just begun across the country, and 50,000 vacation-goers were expected to arrive in Tampa.
After a year negatively affected by the pandemic, the airline industry has resumed flying and Tampa International Airport is expected to see a boost as peak season has started. According to kayak.com, searches for flights in and out of Tampa have seen an increase.
With warmer weather and fewer coronavirus restrictions, Tampa has become a popular destination for travelers since the start of the pandemic. Tampa International Airport’s spokeswoman Emily Nipps has already noticed the traffic increase.
“This year it’s starting to look a little bit back to normal. We have got about probably 50 to 60 percent of our traffic back right now. So, it’s still not as busy as it was but as you can see it’s definitely a lot more activity,” said Nipps. “We employ almost 10,000 people at the airport, so we saw all those people leave over the last year and now we’re starting to see them come back.”
Florida parents and education officials at odds over standardized testing
After seeing the pandemic’s impact of their children’s learning, parents are protesting the Florida State Education system’s use of standardized tests during the current school year.
Florida education officials have considered using a federal waiver to allow some schools to move away from having tests scores be used to grade the schools’ progress. Superintendent of Escambia County Schools Tim Smith is in favor of the waiver being put into place.
“In my district, in particular, Warrington Middle School would have to be closed, if a D is earned this academic year” said Smith.
Smith insisted the waiver would let Florida schools focus on their own progress as opposed to reaching federal requirements. Parents have until the end of the month to voice their opinions on the new testing waiver.
Credits
Anchors: Emma Oliver, Courtney Patterson
Reporter: Ginette Troya
Producer: Niamh Larkin
Writer: Leonardo Santos, Hannah Halili
Graphics editor: Rema Alahmad
Video Editors: Leonardo Santos, Hannah Halili
Show Editor: Zheming Zhang, Ta’Bria Snowden
Videographer: David Rose, Dylan Zuccarrello, Brad Haft
Associate Producer: Emma Oliver
Web Editor: Jerome Murray
Executive Producer: Gabe Castro, Carla Ibanez
Graduate Assistant: Emmanuel Maduneme
Faculty Adviser: Jeanette Abrahamsen, Wayne Garcia
