The latest data is from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says the state has logged 27,584 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily caseload since the start of the pandemic. 

Fried says on top of these new cases, 16,457 Floridians are currently in hospital with COVID and 3,657 people are in the ICU with the virus. 

She says that’s why it’s essential that all Florida leaders, Republican or Democrat, back Judge John Cooper’s ruling that allows schools to pass face mask mandates. 

“It certainly breaks my heart that this has become a partisan issue. And so I am asking for all of our elected officials across the state of Florida to stand in unity.”

She says that goes for vaccines and other health protocols too.

“That is the only way that we are going to get through this. Is to show that we are doing this together. This should never have been to begin with. We’re talking about masks and health in a health crisis.”

Fried says along with face masks, she encourages anyone who is eligible to get one of three available COVID-19 vaccines.