In a step towards reopening that may restore jobs to thousands of Floridians, theme parks across Central Florida are inching closer to reopening, even if the momentum is incremental.
As major theme parks, including Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World, formulate their plans and procedures to reopen, cases of COVID-19 are still being reported in the state - the very disease that caused the parks to shutter in March.
As of Friday afternoon, the Florida Department of Health reported 1,212 new cases of COVID-19 since about the same time Thursday, as well as 67 new deaths related to the respiratory illness.
This brings the total number of cases of COVID-19 reported in Florida since it was first detected in the state on March 1 to 54,497, as