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 2,883 Resident Death Toll Reaches 15,595
Updated Wednesday at 11:49 a.m.
Florida surpassed 740,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 2,883 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Florida now has a total of 741,632 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties make up 860 of the newly reported cases. Monroe County added eight new cases overall.
Wednesday’s update also included the announcement of 64 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 15,595.
— By WLRN News
Florida House Report, Speaker’s Memo Challenge State COVID Death Stats
Updated Wednesday at 7:24 a.m.
House Democrats and a Florida medical examiner slammed a report released by the Florida House on Tuesday that — along with a memo from Speaker Jose Oliva — cast doubt on the official COVID-19 death statistics reported by state health officials.
“Number one, I don’t need a politician to tell me how to do my job,” said Dr. Joshua Stephany, chief medical examiner for two Florida counties. “And as far as overcounting or undercounting ... I think in the long run, it evens out.”
Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, commissioned a report by House staffers looking into the death numbers provided by the Florida Department of Health, which relies on data reported by local medical examiners. The report criticized several aspects of medical examiners' data, including that all deaths in which a positive COVID-19 case is detected are counted as a coronavirus-related death. That is something guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention require.
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— By Gray Rohrer and Naseem S. Milleer, The South Florida Sun Sentinel
Doctors Worry Las Olas Art Show Could Become A COVID Superspreader
Updated Wednesday at 7:20 a.m.
A group of doctors are raising concern that COVID-19 could turn this weekend’s Las Olas Art Show into a superspreader event, and they want Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale to call it off.
The doctors, headed by retired dermatologist Joe Arena, are asking government officials to cancel the show out of concern that it will spread the virus, the Florida Bulldog website reported Tuesday.
The show, which is scheduled to run this coming weekend, typically attracts thousands of people to downtown Fort Lauderdale, but organizers say they will follow strict coronavirus guidelines this year and require patrons to wear masks.
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— By David Lyons, The South Florida Sun Sentinel
