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 Cases Increase By More Than 4,600, Surpass 889,000 Mark
Updated Monday at 4:50 p.m.
Florida surpassed 889,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 4,663 cases of COVID-19 Monday. Florida has a total of 889,864 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Monday's update also included the announcement of 41 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 17,559. Factoring in non-resident deaths the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 17,775.
— WLRN News
Sen. Rick Scott Quarantines Out Of 'Abundance Of Caution'
Updated Monday at 2:50 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said this weekend he was in a self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
“After arriving in Florida last night, I came into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for COVID,” Scott said in a Twitter post Saturday. “I was tested this morning and the result was negative. I have no symptoms, but out of an abundance of caution, I will be immediately quarantining.”
As of Monday morning, Scott had not provided updates on his status. Scott had been in Georgia as the state carries out a recount of the Nov. 3 election and prepares for runoff contests for its two U.S. Senate seats.
Scott was recently tapped by his GOP colleagues to lead Republican Senate campaign efforts in 2022. Scott entered a similar self-quarantine in March after having contact in Miami with a member of a Brazilian delegation who tested positive for the coronavirus.
As in the current case, Scott reported no symptoms and was back on the Senate floor within 13 days to vote on a federal stimulus package.
— News Service of Florida Staff
Legislators Return Tuesday But Will Keep Their Distance — From Tackling COVID Concerns
Updated Monday at 6:40 a.m.
Florida legislators meet for the first time in eight months on Tuesday to swear in newly elected lawmakers, but legislators will keep their distance from one another, in an attempt to stave off the coronavirus — and from any talk of addressing the economic and health-related fallout from it.
The one-day legislative session is required by the state Constitution “on the fourteenth day following each general election...for the exclusive purpose of organization and selection of officers” and it is expected to last just two hours.
In some years, when circumstances have warranted it, legislators have expanded the agenda of the organization session to either conduct committee hearings and begin hearing legislation or they have called a special session to address emergency issues after a hurricane or budget crisis.
— By Mary Ellen Klas / The Miami Herald/The Times Tallahassee Bureau
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
Signs Of The Surge: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rise 44 Percent
Updated Monday at 6:34 a.m.
South Florida hospitals are experiencing the impact of a surge in COVID-19 infections, and experts say it will only get worse.
Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties saw a 44% increase in coronavirus patients over the past two weeks, an increase paralleled across Florida, according to state figures.
With about 3,200 Floridians currently hospitalized with COVID-19, the numbers are well below the July peak, when hospitalizations topped 9,000. But the trend is clearly upward, and question is how high it will rise.
— By David Fleshler / The South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
