ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida health officials say more than than 100,000 people in the state have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Florida reached the milestone Monday morning, as public health officials reissued advisories urging social distancing and mask-wearing, and as some businesses reevaluate their decisions to reopen. More than 3,100 people in Florida have died.
Over the weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the Health Department to reissue advisories urging Floridians to consider wearing masks to help keep the virus from spreading.
In Orlando, a challenge was filed in court to Orange County’s mandatory face mask order that went into effect last Saturday. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, as well as other municipalities such as Tampa and the Florida Keys, issued similar orders last week.
In court papers filed Sunday, an Orange County resident said the face mask order violated his right to privacy under the Florida Constitution.
The lawsuit, supported by Republican State Rep. Anthony Sabatini and Florida Family Policy Council president John Stemberger, called the order “a radical infringement on the reasonable and legitimate expectation of privacy that most Floridians expect to have over their own facial and bodily autonomy.”
At a news conference on Monday, Demings said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit.
“With the numbers climbing rapidly, it’s really important that we wear masks,” Demings said about his order. “Our goal is really simple — to slow the spread of the virus in our community.”
