Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
- Mayor Daniella Cara Levine of Miami-Dade county has ordered that indoor county facilities require masks.
- Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings declared that all 4,200 non-unionized counties get fully vaccinated by the end of September.
- Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has opposed new restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic, even as cases surge.
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Two Florida mayors have announced mask and vaccine mandates in their counties this week, despite Governor Ron DeSantis refusing to impose statewide pandemic measures.
In Miami-Dade county, indoor county facilities will once again require masks, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's office announced on Wednesday. Levine Cava tweeted that the county has seen an "alarming rise" in cases and that hospitalizations are increasing there.
In Orange County, where Disney World and Universal Orlando Resorts are located, Mayor Jerry Demings has ordered that all 4,200 non-unionized county employees be fully vaccinated by the end of September.
Demings' announcement was part of a local state of emergency declared on Wednesday, and he also urged all residents to wear masks, regardless of their vaccination status. In a news conference on the same day, he said that cases in the county had reached an "all-time high."
"Quite frankly, we believe that if we take these steps as a community, we will experience a significant decline in the spread of the virus in just a few weeks," he said.
Meanwhile, Disney World is again requiring all guests and cast members to wear masks at its indoor facilities.
The mandates come after the CDC shifted its mask recommendation policy, saying that fully vaccinated people should also continue to wear face coverings.
The new measures also contradict Governor DeSantis' stand against COVID-19 restrictions. DeSantis opposes mask mandates in schools and has rejected calls from elected officials and the medical community to declare a state of emergency, despite Florida being among the states leading the US in infections.
The state reported 16,038 new daily cases on Wednesday, the highest since January.
Despite a troubling increase in cases in his state, DeSantis mocked CDC guidelines around masks during a speech at the American Language Exchange Council on Thursday.
"I think it's very important we say, unequivocally, no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions, and no mandates. [We] should not be consigned to live...in a Faucian dystopia," he said.