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
Florida Adds More Than 19,000 New Cases, Sets Record For New Cases In A Single Day
Updated Thursday at 5 p.m.
Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 19,816 positive cases of COVID-19 Thursday. Florida has a total of 1,429,722 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Thursday's update also included the announcement of 164 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 22,481. Factoring in non-resident deaths the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 22,817.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 8,127 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported 36 deaths due to COVID-19.
— WLRN News
Who Can Get The COVID Vaccine In Florida? Hint: It Helps If You Have Donated To A Hospital
Updated Thursday at 11:15 a.m.
At a time when elderly and infirm residents across Florida have had to camp out overnight — or can’t get an appointment because overloaded web portals glitching — hospitals are struggling to devise equitable systems for dispensing the supplies that they have. Some have been giving fast-passes to wealthy donors and friends, allowing them to skip the line.
At least three South Florida hospital systems — Jackson Health, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Baptist Health — have already reached out and offered vaccines to some donors in advance of the general public, while in the process of dispensing vaccines to front-line employees, patients with chronic illnesses and other stakeholders connected to their health systems.
In carefully crafted statements, hospitals confirmed that donors were among those receiving the vaccine in advance of the general public — but they insist that those who received them were within the age group prioritized by Florida.
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.
— Julie K. Brown / Miami Herald
State Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Reports
Updated Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
The state has agreed to settle a lawsuit that stemmed from unreasonable delays by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in providing the weekly White House Coronavirus Task Force reports to the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel.
As part of the settlement, the state has agreed to release the future weekly task force reports within two business days and pay $7,500 in attorney fees.
“We are satisfied with the settlement and hope we don’t have to sue again for crucial public records regarding the pandemic or any other important public matter. Onward,” said Julie Anderson, the editor in chief of the two newspapers.
The Orlando Sentinel sued DeSantis and his office on Dec. 11, alleging that DeSantis and his office have violated the Public Records Act by refusing the release of the reports. The Sun Sentinel joined in the lawsuit.
Read more at our news partner the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— Naseem S. Miller / Sun Sentinel