Florida bars are set to reopen at half capacity on Monday, a decision that coincides with university students' return to campuses for in-person learning, and as Governor Ron DeSantis encourages travel, despite a large number of coronavirus cases in the state.

The state this week rescinded an executive order issued in late June, when the coronavirus was surging in Florida, to curtail bar drinking. As of Thursday, 12,326 people in Florida have died of COVID-19 and roughly 655,000 have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University. The state has a positive coronavirus test rate of 13.5%, among the highest in the country.

The effort to jump-start the Florida economy comes amid reports of hundreds of students testing positive for the virus at colleges and universities across the state, including more than 800 at Florida State University in Tallahassee and roughly 400 more at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Cases have also been confirmed at the University of South Florida in Tampa and University of Central Florida in Orlando....

Bars won't be allowed to reopen in Miami-Dade County, Florida's most populous county and the region hardest hit by the pandemic. Carlos Gimenez, the county's mayor, told reporters on Wednesday that he did not see bars and nightclubs reopening for the foreseeable future, or "until we get a vaccine." By contrast, the county is lifting bans on rental scooters, outdoor amusement parks and tour boats as of Monday.