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Coronavirus Live Updates: South Florida Veterans To Get Vaccine Soon, With Other Seniors To Follow

Vaccine-makers are readying 190 million doses of the flu vaccine for deployment across the U.S. this fall — 20 million more doses than in a typical year. A nasal spray version will be available, as well as shots.
Justin Sullivan
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Vaccine-makers are readying 190 million doses of the flu vaccine for deployment across the U.S. this fall — 20 million more doses than in a typical year. A nasal spray version will be available, as well as shots.

This post will be updated today, Thursday, Dec. 24, and through the week with the latest information on COVID-19 in South Florida.

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.

To receive WLRN's coronavirus updates newsletter on Wednesdays and Saturdays, sign up here.

QUICK UPDATES

South Florida Veterans To Get Vaccine Soon, With Other Seniors To Follow

Updated Thursday at 5:40 p.m.

Military veterans in South Florida will soon have access to the COVID-19 vaccines, and other older people will follow shortly.

In a statement Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs said 113 medical centers and clinics would receive “limited” Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supplies this week, including the William “Bill” Kling VA in Sunrise.

Health care workers will come first and then older veterans who are already registered with the VA. Care managers “will reach out to eligible veterans to schedule vaccinations,” said agency spokeswoman Mary Kay Rutan.

Read more at our news partner the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

— Lisa J. Huriash / Sun Sentinel

Florida Adds More Than 13,000 New Cases, Statewide Resident Death Toll Approaches 21,000

Updated Thursday at 5 p.m.

Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 13,147 positive cases of COVID-19 Thursday. Florida has a total of 1,247,546 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.

Thursday's update also included the announcement of 121 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 20,995. Factoring in non-resident deaths the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 21,295.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 7,764 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported 33 deaths due to COVID-19.

— WLRN News

Vaccination On Wheels? Palm Beach County Considers Mobile Units To Reach Older Residents

Updated Thursday at 8:42 a.m.

After spending months inside to avoid crowds and potential COVID-19 exposure, many older residents face a dilemma as vaccinations slowly begin across the state.

How do you get vaccinated if you don’t feel comfortable leaving the safety of your home?

The answer in Palm Beach County might be sending the vaccination to your doorstep.

With older older adults at far greater risk of suffering severe COVID-related illnesses, county commissioners and health officials have discussed targeting older communities with the county’s mobile testing vehicles.

— Wells Dusenbury / The South Florida Sun Sentinel

Read more at our news partner The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

How Many Died Of COVID From Thanksgiving Gatherings? In Florida, You Won’t Know Until After New Year’s

Updated Thursday at 8:03 a.m.

Florida’s public tally of COVID-19 deaths is now so behind that on some days, nearly half of the deaths reported actually occurred two months earlier, public health data shows.

The backlog blurs the full impact of the disease, preventing Floridians from seeing how deeply it’s ravaging the state.

On 14 days in December so far, the daily death count reported by the state included deaths that were more than 60 days old, according to data analyzed by Florida public health scientists. If this trend continues, Floridians won’t see the potentially deadly effect of Thanksgiving gatherings until after New Year’s. They won’t know the full scope of COVID deaths resulting from Christmas parties until after Valentine’s Day.

— By Cindy Krischer Goodman and David Fleshler / The South Florida Sun Sentinel

Read more at our news partner The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Mount Sinai Hospital Is Scheduling Seniors To Get COVID-19 Vaccines In Miami Beach

Updated Thursday at 6:45 a.m.

Some of the first South Florida seniors in the general public are likely to receive doses of either of the federally authorized COVID-19 vaccines as soon as this weekend at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.

Mount Sinai is still vaccinating its own workers, but CEO Steve Sonenreich said his hospital has enough stock of both the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to move forward with inoculating the city’s oldest residents from the novel virus while that process plays out.

The hospital system will start with people over the age of 75 and lower that to people over the age of 65 once it has completed the first round of seniors in the older age bracket. Sonenreich said the vaccinations will not be restricted to Mount Sinai patients.

— By Ben Conarck / The Miami Herald

Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.

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