Manatee County and Anna Maria Island’s three cities each renewed states of emergency for the novel coronavirus the week ending Nov. 1.
But the fate of each order falls to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Florida’s state of emergency was set to expire Nov. 3 — after The Islander’s press deadline — unless the governor extended the order for another 60 days.
DeSantis declared Florida’s COVID-19 state of emergency on March 9 in executive order 20-52 and, with three subsequent executive orders, kept the order alive for 240 days through its Nov. 3 expiration date.
Declaring a state of emergency allows state and local governments to enact emergency orders, such as setting curfews and mask mandates, as well as to make emergency expenditures and collect relief funds from higher governments.
As of Oct. 30, DeSantis had not definitively commented on whether he would extend Florida’s state of emergency through the holiday season.
If DeSantis decides against extending the order, local states of emergency would be at risk.
State law prohibits local governments from continuing states of emergency for longer than 60 contiguous days unless the governor continues a statewide emergency order.
With each municipality’s state of emergency running more than 200 days, the expiration of the state order could terminate local orders.
Bradenton Beach city attorney Ricinda Perry told The Islander Oct. 30 that the city’s state of emergency would be terminated if the state’s declaration expires.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy wrote in an Oct. 30 email to The Islander that the fate of the city’s state of emergency would be determined “after consultation with our legal staff, the county and the city commission.”
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth told The Islander Oct. 30 that a state of emergency is beneficial for access to federal relief funds. If the state no longer receives federal emergency funds to redistribute, there’d be no point in having a local state of emergency.
“If the state’s not doing it, it would be a moot point,” Titsworth said. “But we’ll take it day-by-day until we get there.”
“I can’t imagine him doing that, but who knows,” she continued.
If the local states of emergency are terminated, mask mandates in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach, as well as any other remaining emergency orders in place, would be terminated as well.
Meanwhile, positive cases of COVID-19 in the state have begun to climb again.
On Oct. 29, 5,444 people tested positive statewide, adding to the more than 800,000 people who have been diagnosed in Florida. Almost 17,000 people have died due to the disease as of Oct. 30 since March.
There have been 13,403 recorded cases of COVID-19 and 330 deaths in Manatee County as of Oct. 30.
Of the 5,444 people who tested positive across the state Oct. 29, 83 were in Manatee County.