Conditional Formats with same criteria evaluate differently (one as TRUE, other as FALSE)

Attachments
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Background Context
The table has the following (relevant) columns:

COLUMN B: Weeks (TEXT, 7 rows merged at a time)
COLUMN C: Day (NUMBER, increases from 0)
COLUMN D: Weekday (TEXT, converting the WEEKDAY of the adjacent Date)
COLUMN E: Date (DATE, formatted as "dd-mmm-yy)

I am trying to create a format for the Weeks (Col. B) column, but ran into issues and began to troubleshoot an already used conditional format. It is used in the Day (Col. C) and Date (Col. E) columns, and works fine.

Input
The conditional format:

$E4=TODAY()

I confirmed in separate cells that the value of TODAY() and the current value in column E are the same, and yield the same serial number.

Error
However, when I use the same formula from the working conditional format to a different column with test data, the condition does not evaluate as TRUE.