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President Donald Trump found a new applause line at his Florida rally this week: “Normal life. O! I love normal life. We want to get back to normal life.” The next day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to deliver on that promise — or the appearance of it. The Republican governor of the president’s must-win battleground responded 24 hours later by canceling all state coronavirus restrictions Friday without warning, catching local governments and epidemiologists off-guard amid their own strategies to keep the coronavirus contained. (Caputo, 9/25)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday lifted all restrictions on businesses statewide, pushing the state, which has long been a coronavirus hotspot, into its "phase three" of reopening. Florida has more than 695,000 COVID-19 cases and a 13.38% testing positivity rate, according to Johns Hopkins University. The governor announced an executive order allowing all restaurants and bars to operate at 100% capacity. In addition to lifting health restrictions on businesses, DeSantis said he is banning cities and counties from fining people who do not social distance or wear face masks — essentially eliminating all local mask mandates. (Lewis, 9/25)

Crowds packed into some Florida bars over the weekend after Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted coronavirus restrictions on them and other businesses, according to a report. Footage showed patrons overflowing out of the Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday after the governor’s surprise order, news station WPLG reported. “I’m healthy, I’m strong and I feel comfortable with all my friends,” said Dan Gibby, who was at the watering hole. (Salo, 9/27)

The Florida Department of Health linked 12 more deaths to the novel coronavirus on Sunday and reported an additional 1,882 infections, sending the Sunshine State past yet another grim milestone in the public health pandemic — more than 700,000 coronavirus cases. Since March 1, the day Florida’s first coronavirus cases were announced to the public, state health officials have tracked 700,564 cases. Sunday’s update brings the total number of fatalities in Florida to 14,202, records show. (Dawson, 9/27)

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran has ordered Miami-Dade County Public Schools to fully open its buildings five days a week by Oct. 5. That’s more than two weeks earlier than the system, the fourth largest in the country, had decided to do after a marathon 29-hour meeting last week. In a letter sent to Perla Tabares Hantman, the school board president, and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Corcoran said he had “grave concerns” about the system’s decision to postpone the planned Oct. 5 opening of school buildings. The board voted Sept. 22 to open schools for some students on Oct. 14, with all students who opted to return to classrooms to be there by Oct. 21, giving the district time to put in place sufficient safety measures to prevent coronavirus outbreaks. (Strauss, 9/27)

Miami’s identity as an international city with a diverse population has steered its response to the pandemic, health officials say. Miami is not only home to immigrants and those from various cultures, but it’s also where many migrant workers and those who are homeless live. Add to that the area’s ranks of retirees and tourists, and it has created an environment in which hospitals need to reflect the community in order to provide good care. (Christ, 9/26)