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 Reports More Than 7,300 New Cases Sunday
Updated Sunday at 4:35 p.m.
Thestate of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 7,363 new cases Sunday, continuing a trend that will push the state past the 1 million case mark for the novel coronavirus pandemic.
As it is, Florida has 992,660 total cases. The 58 resident deaths and one non-resident death reported mean 18,500 Floridians and 18,736 people overall have died in Florida with COVID-19 as the main cause.
While the daily case numbers reestablished residence a few floors above where they were a month ago and current hospitalizations keep climbing, the positive test rates edge downward.
-David J. Neal/Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald
Positivity Rate Jumps Almost Full Percentage Point With Saturday COVID Numbers
Updated Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Florida reported 6,277 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, along with 81 new deaths, as the postivity rate jumped back up by nearly a full percentage point.
The new cases lifted the state’s total to 985,297, according to the Florida Department of Health. The total death toll including residents and non-residents is now 18,677.
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there were no daily COVID-19 case numbers released by the state Department of Health on Thursday.
Read more from our news partner the Sun Sentinel
-Andrew Boryga/Sun Sentinel
Miami-Dade Congressman-Elect Carlos Gimenez Tests Positive For COVID-19
Updated Friday at 5:51 p.m.
Miami-Dade County’s former mayor, Congressman-elect Carlos Gimenez, and his wife have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. This comes after the county reported more than 3,700 new COVID-19 cases since Wednesday.
Just after 4 p.m. Friday, Gimenez, 66, tweeted that after several negative tests, he and his wife, Lourdes Gimenez, 65, have tested positive. He said they are “feeling good and experiencing no symptoms at this time.”
Although he will be self-isolating in his home, he will continue virtually attending the New Member Orientation for newly elected members to the U.S. House of Representatives. Gimenez, a Republican, defeated Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Florida’s 26th Congressional District, Florida’s most competitive U.S. House race.
At age 66, Gimenez falls into a high-risk category for COVID-19.
— Devoun Cetoute / The Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
Florida Releases Two Days Of COVID-19 Numbers, Adding 17,344 Cases And 109 deaths
Updated Friday at 3:20 p.m.
Florida’s Department of Health released two days’ worth of figures on Friday, confirming 17,344 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 979,020. Also, 109 new resident deaths were announced, bringing the resident toll to 18,363.
Five new non-resident deaths were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 233, according to Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard.
Florida did not report its COVID cases or deaths on Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday and many testing sites were closed. The sites reopenedFriday but lines were not long at several, including Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Herald news partner CBS4 reported.
Florida has the third highest number of total confirmed cases in the country after Texas and California, according to the New York Times COVID-19 database.
— Howard Cohen / The Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
COVID Infections Surge In Florida Nursing Homes. Hialeah Home Lead Deaths
Updated Friday at 7:58 a.m.
Coronavirus cases are surging again in elder-care facilities nearly three months after the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an emergency order easing restrictions on visitations to nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
As of Nov. 23, 1,499 residents tested positive for the virus — a 35 percent increase from the 1,108 residents who were COVID-positive two weeks earlier, on Nov. 9. More than 2,000 staffers at these facilities also have the virus at present.
In assisted living facilities alone, the number of COVID-positive residents has jumped 70 percent from 156 to 264 in the two weeks between Nov. 9 and Nov. 23.
— By Shirsho Dasgupta and Christina Saint Louis / The Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
The Wharf Wasn’t Alone. Thousands Of Businesses Have Been Accused Of Violating COVID-19 Rules
Updated Friday at 7:41 a.m.
A trendy bar in downtown Fort Lauderdale took a beating in the public eye after allowing a pack of mask-less partiers last weekend. But thousands of other businesses have quietly drawn similar complaints, county records show.
Since June 1, code inspectors across Broward County’s 31 cities have fielded more than 15,000 complaints about businesses breaking safety rules aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
Palm Beach County has received 8,652 complaints. And with the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, many more are likely.
— By Susannah Bryan / The South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
If You’re Looking For The Number Of New Florida COVID-19 Cases, You’ll Need To Wait A Day
Updated Friday at 7:40 a.m.
Thanksgiving is finally here after a long, hard year. Along with many business and offices across the state, the Department of Health will be on holiday and there will be no novel coronavirus reporting Thursday.
The COVID-19 dashboard and the COVID-19 daily reports will not be updating or releasing on Thanksgiving, but will resume on Friday along with the weekly update being released on schedule.
Although there won’t be any new releases, health department staff, laboratory staff, contact tracing and other critical response teams will continue to work through the holiday.
— By Devoun Cetoute / The Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
Forcing Students To Test In Schools Poses Big Challenge, But State Isn't Budging On Offering Relief
Updated Friday at 7:38 a.m.
More than half of Palm Beach County’s public school students are learning from home — their families steering clear of classrooms during a pandemic. But the threat of COVID-19 has yet to derail the state’s plans to re-institute its rigorous testing demands this year. And those plans require even remote learners to return to campus by the thousands to sit for hours-long exams.
Already, some high school seniors have had to come in to make up end-of-course exams that were scuttled in the spring but still required to graduate in 2021, said the district’s top testing official, Mark Howard.
In an effort to maintain 6-foot-spacing between students, schools set up testing areas in cafeterias or libraries and had the students make appointments to come in, Howard said.
— By Sonja Isger / The Palm Beach Post
Read more from our news partner at The Palm Beach Post.
