Theme park mecca lets pandemic emergency order expire

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The mayor of the Florida county that’s home to the nation’s biggest theme park resorts is lifting a pandemic-related state of emergency order. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said he was letting the order expire Wednesday afternoon. Orange County’s positivity rate has been below 5% for 17 consecutive days and the 14-day average rate was 3.5%.  Under the state of emergency, county employees were required to be vaccinated with at least one shot by the end of August, or face discipline. Unvaccinated workers also were required to be tested weekly for COVID-19, but they’ll no longer have to do that.