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
Statewide Coronavirus Cases Increase By 1,838, Death Toll Rises To 11,871
Updated Monday at 12:43 p.m.
Florida surpassed 640,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 1,838 cases of COVID-19 on Monday. Florida has a total of 648,269 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Monday’s update also included the announcement of 22 new deaths, increasing the statewide number to 11,871.
— By WLRN News
Some Help For Florida’s Unemployed: Job Search Requirement Suspended For Much Longer
Updated Monday at 8:22 a.m.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending Florida’s unemployment work search requirements for another three months, he announced Friday.
Until Dec. 5, Floridians won’t have to obey the state’s strict work-search quotas, which require applicants to report five new job searches per week to keep their benefits.
Florida’s economy is showing signs of a recovery, with the number of new claims falling to 39,335 for the week ending Aug. 29, the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 400,000 Floridians received benefits that week.
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
— By Lawrence Mower / The Miami Herald
Florida Is Privatizing State-Run COVID Testing Sites, Starting With Broward County
Updated Monday at 8:14 a.m.
Less than two months after state-run COVID testing sites were overwhelmed with demand amid a surge in new infections, Florida officials are turning to a single private vendor to reduce operating costs for the sites, beginning with a Broward County site at the busiest intersection in Pembroke Pines.
The state will consolidate vendors for nurses, equipment and lab work at the testing site at C.B. Smith Park, according to Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz.
“We are rightsizing the testing sites,” he said, adding that the division is cutting costs as demand for tests has waned. He said the state is looking to make similar changes at other state-run testing sites.
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
— By Ben Conarck and Daniel Chang / The Miami Herald
COVID-19 Makes It Hard To Inspect Nursing Homes
Updated Monday at 6 a.m.
How do you inspect a nursing home or a hospital in the middle of a pandemic or discipline a physician or a nurse?
As COVID-19 has spread, the organizations and regulators responsible for ensuring the safety of health-care facilities and providers have run into a conundrum when travel and face-to-face encounters have been nixed.
Florida has become a testing ground of sorts for The Joint Commission, a national health-care accreditation organization that launched a virtual survey process during the pandemic. Marc Pelletier, chief operating officer in charge of accreditation and certification operations for the organization, said a Florida nursing home was the first provider to be surveyed virtually.
The Joint Commission nationwide has conducted 240 virtual surveys, with 41 involving Florida providers.
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— By Christine Sexton / The South Florida Sun Sentinel
