Orange County is no longer under an emergency order starting today and a face mask mandate will be lifted Saturday. Mayor Jerry Demings made the announcement during his State of the County address today.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwmX0ffs3WE[/embed]
Demings says Orange County has remained under a local emergency order for 15 months. As of today, that order is lifted.
And he says by Saturday, the Florida Department of Health predicts the county will enter phase three of its phased approach to lifting its face mask mandate.
That means face masks will no longer be required indoors or outdoors.
“The Florida Department of Health projections indicate that we will have reached our 14-day rolling positivity rate of 5 percent or below. This means we will transition to phase three where all Orange County mandates are lifted.”
[audio wav="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/orange-county-clip-one-1.wav"][/audio]
Demings says about 60 percent of all eligible residents in the county have gotten the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
He says once the economy has rebounded from the pandemic, he plans on reintroducing a penny sales tax imitative that would fund transportation in the area.
“Orange County continues to work with Brightline and other partners on renewed transportation solutions for the region. It’s all about connections and improvements are needed in our mass transit infrastructure.”
[audio wav="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/13002_ORANGE_DANIELLE.wav"][/audio]
Commissioners would still be required to vote to add this measure to the ballot in 2022.
Demings suspended his efforts to pass the sales tax in April last year as the county focused efforts on stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
