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
State Adds 5,570 COVID-19 Cases And 180 Deaths
Updated Sunday at 2 p.m.
Florida’s Department of Health on Sunday confirmed 5,570 additional cases of COVID-19, the most reported since August. It comes a day after Florida did not report any new cases or deaths because officials were left combing through 400,000 test results a private lab resent Friday night, clogging the system.
The state now has 734,491 confirmed cases. Also, 178 resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident death toll to 15,364. Two new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 188.
Throughout the pandemic, the newly confirmed cases reported on Sundays have tended to be lower than the other days of the week because fewer people work in labs and enter data on the weekends.
Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald.
-Michelle Marchante/Miami Herald
State Delays Release Of Coronavirus Numbers
Updated Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Florida health officials announced Saturday they were forced to delay the release of their coronavirus report that provides a daily look at the numbers of new infections, deaths and percentages of positive COVID-19 test results.
The official reason: A laboratory on Friday night dumped about 400,000 test results that had previously been submitted, mucking up the ability to accurately process the state’s much-watched pandemic data.
“State epidemiologists are currently working to reconcile the data, which will take a day to finish,” the state Health Department said in a news release. “Therefore, the daily report will resume tomorrow.”
Read more from our news partner the Sun Sentinel
-Marc Freeman/Sun Sentinel
Statewide Coronavirus Cases Increase By 2,908 Resident Death Toll Reaches 15,186
Updated Friday at 12:50 p.m.
Florida surpassed 725,00 positive cases of COVID-19 asFlorida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 2,908 cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
Florida now has a total of 728,921confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties make up 695 of the newly reported cases. Monroe County only added 13 cases overall.
Friday’s update also included the announcement of 118 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 15,186.
— By WLRN News
Palm Beach County Health Director Warns People Not to Overwhelm Hospitals During Flu Season
Updated Friday at 11:50 a.m.
Palm Beach County’s health director is urging everyone to get a flu shot during an unusual flu season.
Speaking at a commission meeting earlier this week, Dr. Alina Alonso said she is worried about people with flu-like symptoms overwhelming the hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If a person has the typical fever, cough, sore throat, those types are exactly the same. You’re not gonna be able to tell unless you get tested,” Alonso said. “So please don’t rush out to the emergency room, because that’s going to overwhelm our system. What you need to do is contact your doctor.”
The county has already seen cases of both influenza A and B. Alonso says that’s unusual this early in the flu season.
— Wilkine Brutus/WLRN News
City Of Miami Expands Restaurant Capacity, Won’t Enforce COVID Curfew Until Midnight
Updated Friday at 7:36 a.m.
The city of Miami loosened its COVID-19 restrictions around restaurant capacity and pushed its curfew back to midnight after commissioners expressed concern over small-restaurant owners suffering losses through the pandemic.
Commissioners approved the changes at a meeting Thursday that underscored the city government’s differences with the county’s approach to handling the current stage of the pandemic. One had reservations about changes for fear the virus, which is still spreading with a positivity rate between 4% and 5% in the community, will spike.
The new rule will allow restaurants inside Miami city limits to open at up to 100% capacity so long as they can maintain six feet between groups of people, and owners would not be required to submit a plan to the city explaining their occupancy plan, as they are required to do for the rest of Miami-Dade County.
Read more from our news partner at the Miami Herald.
— By Joey Flechas / The Miami Herald
