TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — School leaders, local mayors and governors around the country are pulling back on reopening measures as coronavirus cases continue to surge.
On Wednesday, New York City public schools, the nation's largest public school system announced it will halt in-person learning Thursday to try to stop the renewed spread of the coronavirus around New York City.
Medical experts are calling this the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and some fear it could be worse than the spring due to pandemic fatigue and holiday traditions tempting people to gather together.
Like most states, Florida's numbers are trending in the wrong direction. The Florida Department of Health receives lab test results each day. On Tuesday, it reported 7,459 new COVID-19 cases for Nov. 16, pushing the state's overall total to 897,323 cases since the pandemic began.
Case increases in recent days have caused the statewide 14-day moving average to slightly rise since the beginning of the month.
On Wednesday, mayors from around the state hosted a meeting urging Governor DeSantis to change his approach on the pandemic.
10 Tampa Bay has been trying to get a hold of DeSantis for three straight days. His office told us he would respond Tuesday night. He never did.
It's been 14 days since DeSantis held a news conference, which was on Nov. 4, the day after the election to brag about Florida's speedy ballot counting.
One week ago as Hurricane Eta approached our coast, he tweeted out information and made an appearance on The Weather Channel but did not hold availability for Florida journalists.
Wednesday, he tweeted twice -- to announce an extended snapper season and to congratulate the new president of Miami Dade College.
We don't know why the governor is staying quiet, so we wanted to take the politics out of the conversation.
10 Tampa Bay talked to Jeff Gigante, owner of Forbici Modern Italian Restaurant in Tampa. Gigante says it's a balance between health and business.
"It's a double-edged sword. We want people to stay as safe as possible, happy and healthy. That said, we are fighting for our business' life," Gigante said.
He has kept his restaurant at 50-percent capacity even though the governor removed all capacity restrictions in September. Gigante didn't want to push the envelope but liked being able to make that decision for himself.
"I'm also happy that Governor DeSantis is pro-business and not really looking to retract all the way," he said.
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