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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Statewide Coronavirus Cases Increase By More Than 3,000, Death Toll Surpasses 12,700
Updated Monday at 12:39 p.m.
Florida surpassed 660,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 3,116 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Florida now has a total of 668,846 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Tuesday’s update also included the announcement of 145 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Florida residents who died up to 12,787.
— By WLRN News
Federal Money Will Pay For Fourth Week Of Benefits
Updated Tuesday at 12:05 p.m.
With hundreds of thousands of Floridians remaining out of work during the coronavirus pandemic, federal money will cover a fourth week of additional unemployment benefits, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.
Florida has been approved for an extra week of $300 payments to jobless people through the federal Lost Wages Assistance program, the department said Monday. An original application was designed to provide additional money to eligible Floridians for the weeks ending Aug. 1, Aug. 8 and Aug. 15.
The approval adds the week of Aug. 22. President Donald Trump issued a directive on Aug. 8 to use Federal Emergency Management Agency money for the program. Only Floridians who are eligible for at least $100 a week in state assistance and are out of work because of the pandemic are eligible for the federal funding.
The short-term aid follows an assistance program providing $600 a week that expired in July. Florida, which provides up to $275 a week in state unemployment assistance for 12 weeks, had an 11.3 percent jobless rate in July, representing 1.125 million unemployed people.
Since mid-March, the state has distributed nearly $15.97 billion to 1.97 million unemployment applicants, with about $12.8 billion coming from the federal government.
— By News Service of Florida Staff
Broward Teachers Must Return To Campus Once School Reopens
Updated Tuesday at 8:57 a.m.
Broward teachers will no longer be allowed to work from home once schools open to students, a requirement that has caused consternation in other districts.
Instead, they will have to return to school and simultaneously teach students in their classrooms and those at home, Jeff Moquin, chief of staff to Superintendent Robert Runcie, said in an email Monday to School Board members. Those who aren’t comfortable would need to take a leave of absence, he wrote.
The note doesn’t say when schools will reopen, but Runcie has previously said it should be some time in October.
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— By Scott Travis / The South Florida Sun Sentinel
Another 40 Inmates Test Positive For COVID-19
Updated Tuesday at 8:55 a.m.
An additional 40 state prison inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases since March to 15,852, according to information released Monday by the Florida Department of Corrections.
The new total was up from 15,812 cases on Friday. The number of inmates who have died from the virus remained at 117.Meanwhile, the department said 2,867 corrections workers had tested positive since the pandemic began.
Six prisons have had more than 100 workers test positive. Those prisons are Dade Correctional Institution, Everglades Correctional Institution, Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, South Florida Reception Center, Suwannee Correctional Institution and Wakulla Correctional Institution.
— By News Service of Florida Staff
