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| Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mandatory masks at schools was thrown out Friday by a Tallahassee judge who ruled that the governor overreached his authority, misinterpreted state law and ignored scientific evidence in issuing his order. |
| Heading into the new school year, DeSantis demanded that counties allow parents to have their children opt out of mask requirements. But Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled that school boards are empowered to mandate that all students wear face coverings, unless they obtain a medical exception. Read more here. |
| It's Friday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's more news you need to know. |
| • | The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden's eviction moratorium, allowing property owners to begin the process of evicting millions of Americans who are behind on rent because of the pandemic. | | • | Alabama is seeing a sharp rise in cases in school-age children, an increase officials say is likely fueled by the highly contagious delta variant that is causing some schools to temporarily switch to remote learning. | | • | Maryland's State Board of Education voted to mandate face masks in all public schools across the state as the delta variant raises concerns about children returning to the classroom in person. | | • | Deaths in the week ending Thursday were up 39% from the previous week, when deaths rose 60%. The United States is now reporting nearly 1,200 deaths per day, with 8,357 deaths reported in the latest week. At that pace, about 50 Americans die every hour. | |
 | | SOURCE Johns Hopkins University data | | USA TODAY | |
| Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 38.4 million COVID-19 cases and 633,800 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 214.9 million cases and more than 4.4 million deaths. About 61% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 52% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 73% have received at least one shot, and about 63% are fully vaccinated. |
| Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines. |
| – Grace Hauck, USA TODAY breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck |
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