For the 5th day in a row, Florida reports more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases

(Image credit: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

published 20 July 2020

Florida recorded 12,523 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday — the fifth day in a row the state reported more than 10,000 new infections.

Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) said on Sunday's This Week there is "community spread, which means the virus is out of control." Shalala also accused Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who will not issue a statewide mask order, of doing Floridians a disservice by pushing to reopen the state too quickly. "The residents here are terrified and I'm terrified, for the first time in my career because there's a lack of leadership," she added. Shalala believes it's time to "close down in Florida. Our economy will not come back until we meet this virus at its head and bring it down."

In an interview that aired Sunday morning, President Trump told Fox News host Chris Wallace that "we have embers and we do have flames. Florida became more flame-like, but it's going to be under control." Since the coronavirus pandemic began earlier this year, Trump has said at least 19 times that the virus will vanish, and he told Wallace he'll be "right eventually. It's going to disappear and I'll be right."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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