State virus cases top 250,000

COVID-19 deaths exceed 90 for third straight day

COVID-19 cases pushed past a quarter-million Saturday, as Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a defense of the state’s decision to return schools to in-person classes next month.

“We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability for in-person schooling for our students,” he said at a news conference Saturday in Bradenton, on a day that saw 10,360 more cases and 98 additional deaths, the third straight day with at least 90 fatalitiesfrom the disease. “The risk of corona, fortunately for students, is incredibly low.”

“People say, well, kids may be the vectors in the community because that’s what happens in an