Travelers eager to board and plane and take to the sky may soon be required to take a COVID-19 test prior to takeoff.
Leaders of several major U.S. airlines met online Friday with White House officials to press their case against requiring coronavirus tests for passengers on domestic flights, saying it would undermine the already fragile industry.
Recommended Videos
White House press secretary Jen Psaki downplayed speculation that the Biden administration could soon impose a requirement that passengers on domestic flights first pass a COVID-19 test. But she stopped short of taking the idea off the table.
“Reports that there is an intention to put in place new requirements such as testing are not accurate,” Psaki said. She described the meeting with CEOs as “brief.”
A person familiar with the discussions said the airline CEOs talked with White House coronavirus-response coordinator Jeff Zients, according to the person, who spoke anonymously to discuss a private meeting.
The CEOs of American, United, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue all took part in the meeting, according to industry officials.
Since late January, the CDC has required that international travelers show a negative COVID-19 test or recovery from the virus before they board a flight to the U.S. The airline industry generally supports that rule, believing that testing could eventually replace tougher international travel restrictions, such as quarantines.
[READ MORE: Airlines push White House to reject COVID-19 testing for US flights]
[READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Brevard County sets aside millions for rental assistance as state reports 7,521 new COVID-19 cases]
Below is a breakdown of Florida COVID-19 data reported by the state on Feb. 13.
Cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 7,401 new cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,821,937 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1.
Deaths
Florida reported 118 new virus-related deaths Saturday, raising the death toll to 29,179. This number includes the 496 non-residents who died in Florida.
Hospitalizations
As of Saturday afternoon, there were currently 4,681 people with the virus hospitalized in Florida, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
Since March, 75,991 people have been hospitalized in Florida after complications from COVID-19. That number includes the 257 new patients who have been recently hospitalized due to the virus, according to the health department’s daily report released on Saturday.
Positivity rate
The percent of positive results was 6.44% Friday. Health officials say the rate should remain between 5% and 10% to prove a community has a hold of the virus and is curbing infections.
Vaccinations
The Florida Department of Health recently began releasing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state.
As of Saturday afternoon, 2,293,883 people have received at least the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The FDOH also reports that 1,028,315 people have received their second shot.
See COVID-19 data for the Central Florida region below:
| County | Cases | New cases | Hospitalizations | New hospitalizations | Deaths | New deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevard | 31,906 | 165 | 1,912 | 9 | 702 | 5 |
| Flagler | 5,612 | 28 | 318 | 5 | 83 | 7 |
| Lake | 23,346 | 131 | 1,206 | 7 | 516 | 13 |
| Marion | 26,227 | 116 | 1,616 | 4 | 674 | 1 |
| Orange | 109,087 | 470 | 2,284 | 7 | 1,015 | 0 |
| Osceola | 35,276 | 126 | 1,234 | 3 | 400 | 0 |
| Polk | 54,235 | 310 | 4,157 | 18 | 1,056 | 6 |
| Seminole | 25,714 | 108 | 1,077 | 2 | 398 | 0 |
| Sumter | 7,576 | 25 | 467 | 3 | 215 | 0 |
| Volusia | 33,196 | 162 | 1,628 | 6 | 604 | 0 |
To keep up with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6′s coronavirus newsletter and go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.