WLRN staff continues to add to community resource lists, including this articleon where kids and families can get food while schools are closed, and this postabout whether and where to get tested for coronavirus.
The dedicated website for the Florida Department of Health, including information about symptoms and numbers of cases, can be found here.
The dedicated website from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can be found here.
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QUICK UPDATES
Florida Surpasses 10,000 Deaths, Reports 4,555 New Positive Cases
Updated Thursday at 12:38 p.m.
Florida surpassed more than 580,000 positive cases of COVID-19 after reporting 4,555 new cases Thursday. Florida has a total of 588,602 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
The state logged in more than 10,000 COVID-19 related deaths. Thursday’s announcement also included 117 new deaths statewide.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 4,275 of reported deaths overall. Monroe County has added one new death bringing the total to 14.
Miami-Dade continues to have the highest number of total cases, 149,162. Broward and Palm Beach County have 68,068 and 39,886 cases respectively.
South Florida May Move To Phase 2 Soon, Governor Says
Updated on Thursday at 7:09 a.m.
South Florida is on the verge of moving to Phase 2 of reopening from COVID-19, providing more relaxed rules for restaurants, stores and attractions, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday.
Citing “significant downward trends” in coronavirus cases, the governor said he is discussing the move with Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, although some local officials wondered Wednesday whether the move is premature.
“I’m not saying I’m going to do it today or we’re gonna do it tomorrow,” DeSantis said. “[But] these are sustained trends at this point, and I think that that’s a good thing,” he said.
Read more from our news partner at The Sun Sentinel.
-By Brooke Baitinger, Lisa J. Huriash, Wells Dusenbury And Scott Travis
Panel Eyes Quick Action On Nursing Home Visits
Updated on Thursday at 6:43 a.m.
Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Mary Mayhew said Wednesday she hopes a task force will be able to finalize recommendations next week on how to reopen long-term care facilities to visitors.
Mayhew told members of the Task Force on the Safe and Limited Re-Opening of Long Term Care Facilities that her agency, which regulates most long-term care facilities, will be prepared to quickly implement whatever changes Gov. Ron DeSantis makes after receiving the task force’s report.
“The governor is obviously aware of the sense of urgency,” Mayhew said when task force member and Jacksonville resident Mary Daniel asked how long it would be before people would be allowed to visit residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. “We are very skilled at this point turning all that around very quickly,” Mayhew, who chairs the task force, said of emergency orders and emergency rules.”That will not be weeks. It shouldn't even be many days.”
The task force has agreed that “essential caregivers” and “compassionate caregivers” should have access to residents, regardless of the status of facilities with COVID-19 cases. The state's March ban on visitation didn’t include those groups of people, but long-term care providers haven’t allowed them access.
Essential caregivers are defined as people who provide residents with health services or assistance with bathing, dressing or eating. Daniel said the definition was restrictive and would preclude visitors who provide emotional support. “There are people who believe what they are able to provide emotionally is as important,” she said.
But Gail Matillo, president and CEO of the Florida Senior Living Association, defended the criteria. “We have to remember that residents need to feel safe, too. And there need to be some sort of criteria, I believe, at the beginning,” Matillo said. Daniel, who rose to national attention after taking a job as a dishwasher at the facility where her husband resides, disagreed.
“Please don’t say that, like we are coming in and we’re going to make them unsafe. And we are not protecting our own families,” Daniel said. “That’s how it sounds, and I have to say, that’s difficult to hear.”
The panel agreed to consider adding emotional support to the definition. The panel also considered broader visitation access, including allowing indoor and outdoor visits, so long as facilities have not had any new COVID-19 cases in a 14-day period. Nursing homes would have the ability to decide whether to allow for broader visitation.
-By NSF Staff
South Florida Hospitals, Facing Financial Gap, Restart Surgeries As COVID Cases Drop
Updated on Thursday at 6:41 a.m.
South Florida hospitals are slowly resuming elective surgeries for a second time, after a summer surge of COVID-19 cases forced Miami’s largest hospitals to halt non-emergency medical procedures and call for reinforcements from out-of-state nurses in July.
The middle of August has brought some relief, with a fourth consecutive week of declining COVID patient admissions to hospitals, easing pressure on healthcare workers and coinciding with declines in new case totals, the percentage of tests coming back positive and general demand for testing.
But without a vaccine for the disease and with intensive care units still caring for the most severely ill COVID patients, hospital administrators are balancing the need to resume surgeries against a warning from the White House of a potential third spike in hospitalizations this fall, when flu season begins.
Read more from our news partner at the Miami Herald.
-By Daniel Chang and Ben Conarck
Nearly 600 Miami-Dade County Public School Employees Have Tested Positive For COVID-19
Updated on Thursday at 6:29 a.m.
Almost 600 Miami-Dade County Public Schools employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus from March through July.
Spokeswoman Natalia Zea confirmed Wednesday that the district’s risk management department, tracking claims made to health insurance, reported 578 cases since the district began collecting that data.
She did not break down that figure on which of the district’s 40,000 employees, the largest employer in the county, contracted the virus.
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
-By Colleen Wright
