of a jacksonville church stated that six church members had died of covid-19 within the previous two weeks. response timeline for state government response date action taken march 1, 2020 public health emergency declared. march 17, 2020 all bars and nightclubs ordered to close for 30 days. march 17, 2020 school closures extended to april 15, and state-mandated school testing cancelled. march 28, 2020 emergency alert sent to cell phones throughout florida from the state's surgeon general regarding public safety. march 30, 2020 stay-at-home order issued for several south florida counties. april 1, 2020 stay-at-home order issued for entire state. june 1, 2020 statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures extended by 30 days. june 5, 2020 "phase 2" of reopening begins, except for the counties of miami-dade, broward, and palm beach. june 26, 2020 banned alcohol sales at all bars across the state. september 25, 2020 "phase 3" of reopening begins. state government variable-message sign displaying covid-19 info on an expressway on july 17, 2020 florida national guard soldiers collaborate with hospital staff to don personal protective equipment a drive-in covid-19 vaccine site the villages, florida. on march 1, governor desantis declared a public health emergency after two cases were confirmed in manatee county and hillsborough county. on march 17, he ordered all bars and nightclubs to be closed for 30 days, extended school closures to april 15, and cancelled state-mandated school testing. by the third week of the pandemic's presence in florida, desantis began attracting criticism for the state's slow response to the pandemic, particularly for deferring beach closings to local governments during spring break while vacationers continued to congregate. the miami herald's editorial board wrote an editorial condemning desantis' inaction in requesting help from the federal government, while noting his vocal support of u.s. president donald trump. speculation mounted that desantis' decision not to lock down the state was influenced by business interests, instead of health experts. business lobbyists, including the florida chamber of commerce, urged the governor not to "take drastic measures that might shut down the state's economy." on march 27, more than 900 health care workers signed a letter asking desantis to order citizens to shelter-in-place, and take other measures to slow the spread of covid-19. a similar letter written by doctors for america was signed by 500 health care professionals a few days earlier. on march 27, desantis expanded a previous order requiring airline travelers from new york city to self-quarantine for fourteen days to include people who enter from louisiana via interstate 10. on march 28, an emergency alert was sent to cell phones throughout florida from the state's surgeon general, dr. scott a. rivkees, regarding public safety among those 65 and older and those with medical conditions, as well as the full population. on march 30, desantis issued a stay-at-home order for the south florida counties of broward, miami-dade, palm beach, and monroe, where over 58% of the state's covid-19 cases were concentrated. he stated that the order would remain in effect at least until the middle of may. on april 1, desantis issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state, effective for 30 days, after a call with president trump. this followed criticism from experts that stricter measures were necessary to contain the virus. on april 9, while discussing the possibility of sending children back to school, desantis said, "i don't think nationwide there's been a single fatality under 25." (this was not true; by this point, several americans under 25 had died of covid-19.) desantis suggested that the flu was more dangerous to this age group. on june 1, desantis extended the statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures another 30 days, lasting through july 1. residents of florida who receive unemployment payments were confused in mid-june when the state of florida switched their payments from weekly to bi-weekly, with no apparent notice. on june 5, desantis issued an executive order implementing "phase 2" of a reopening plan outside of miami-dade, broward and palm beach counties, allowing some businesses (such as bars, pubs, and indoor venues such as arcades, bowling alleys, cinemas, and concert venues) to expand to 50% capacity, and personal care services to resume operations. the order recommended against gatherings of more than 50 people. on june 16, desantis said 260 orlando international airport workers tested positive for covid-19. he also said that the increase of cases was due to an increase of testing and that even though cases are increasing, "they are not rolling back." orlando airport said this was false, and that only 2 out of 500 employees tested positive. new york governor andrew cuomo considered the idea of quarantining people who travel from florida to new york due to concern of rising covid-19 cases in florida. they monitored for an influx of cases of people traveling from florida. on june 20, desantis said that he was cracking down on restaurants not practicing strict social distancing guideline. he also noted that the new cases were trending in the younger generation, with much of the cases being people between the ages of 20 and 35 years old. on june 23, desantis said that florida bars and restaurants would be liable to lose their liquor licenses if they violate the state's social distancing guidelines. 13 employees and at least 28 patrons of the knight's pub in orlando tested positive for covid-19, resulting in the knight's pub losing their liquor license. due to the increase of cases, some hospitals, like palm beach gardens and jfk medical center, reported having no open icu beds. however, state surgeon general dr. scott rivkees told hospitals to only report covid-19 patients as icu cases if they required icu level of care, since some icus were being used to simply isolate covid-19 patients from other hospital patients, and to report non-icu-level care cases as covid-hospitalized cases. the same day, florida banned liquor sales at bars that do not offer substantial food menus. strip clubs remained open. as of june 26, 660 inmates and 24 staff at the homestead correctional institution tested positive for covid-19, and 23 deaths have been accounted for at the institution due to the virus. on september 10, 2020, the state rescinded the executive order prohibiting alcohol sales at bars. prohibitions on mitigations on september 25, governor desantis announced phase 3, which lifted all capacity restrictions on most businesses. in addition, municipalities are prohibited from collecting fines for violations of local health orders, and may not restrict restaurants to less than 50% capacity unless they receive approval from the state; they must provide justification for the decision, and detail any possible economic impact. from april 2021, desantis has signed multiple executive orders designed to prohibit the use of covid-19 mitigations, citing alleged infringements of personal freedoms. on april 2, 2021, governor desantis signed an executive order prohibiting any business from requiring proof of vaccination or recovery ("vaccine passports") as a prerequisite for entry or the provision of services, punishable by fine of $5,000 per-instance. on may 3, 2021, desantis signed an executive order officially rescinding the state of emergency and all covid-19-related public health orders. this order superseded all local public health orders, and also prohibited municipalities from enacting any further public health order related to covid-19. that same day, he signed a bill prohibiting vaccine passports and limiting other covid-19 mitigation measures such as mask mandates. on july 30, desantis signed an executive order prohibiting municipalities and school boards from mandating that masks be worn in schools. in july 2021, norwegian cruise line sued the surgeon general of florida, arguing that the prohibition of vaccine mandates "poses imminent, substantial, irreparable harms" to the company, and prevented it from being able to ensure the health and safety of its passengers and crew. the desantis administration argued that the company "has made the disappointing and unlawful choice to join the cdc in discriminating against children and other individuals who cannot be vaccinated or who have opted not to be vaccinated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience." on august 8, district judge kathleen m. williams issued a preliminary injunction against the prohibition, arguing that it "fails to provide a valid evidentiary, factual, or legal predicate", and that "documentary proof of vaccination will expedite passengers' entry into virtually every single country and port where plaintiffs intend to sail." on november 18, 2021, desantis signed four bills, passed by the florida legislature the previous day, that, among other actions, limited vaccine mandates by businesses and government entities. in january 2023, amid the upcoming expiration of his executive orders in july 2023, desantis tabled legislation to make the prohibition of vaccine and mask mandates permanent. county and local responses notification of positive covid-19 test using the healthy together app in the state of florida. schools on june 10, 2020, it was announced that broward county and palm beach county were considering twice-a-week school for the fall. on june 16, 2020, broward county announced that schools would reopen on august 16, 2020, with hybrid learning, both in-person and online education. on july 6, 2020, the florida department of education ordered all public schools to reopen in person. this was challenged by the florida education association (fea). on august 24, 2020, the second judicial circuit court issued an injunction against the order. the case was appealed to the first district court of appeal, which ruled in mid october 2020 in favor of the reopening order. a rehearing was requested in late october 2020 but ultimately the fea voluntarily dismissed the case on december 23, 2020. from august 10 to december 21, 2020, cases of school-related covid-19 included 25,094 among students and 9,630 among staff members. of all 2,809,553 registered students, there were 101 hospitalizations and no deaths. among staff members, there were 219 hospitalizations and 13 deaths. contact tracing revealed 10,092 positive cases in people who had close-contact in a school setting with people who had school-related covid-19. 62 of the 67 school districts had at least one case, with a total of 695 school-based outbreaks. 28 schools in 12 districts closed temporarily because of covid-19. masks