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 12,000 New Cases, Broward Surpasses 2,000 All-Time Deaths Due To COVID-19
Updated Thursday at 5 p.m.
Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 12,873 positive cases of COVID-19 Thursday. Florida has a total of 1,613,884 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Thursday's update also included the announcement of 161 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 24,739. Factoring in non-resident deaths the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 25,128.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 8,714 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported 40 deaths due to COVID-19.
— WLRN News
Mount Sinai Cancels All Scheduled First-Dose COVID Vaccines. Second Doses Not Affected
Updated Thursday at 2:40 p.m.
Days after Baptist Health, South Florida’s largest nonprofit hospital system, abruptly canceled COVID vaccine appointments for hundreds, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach is taking a similar action.
Due to restraints on the COVID-19 vaccine supply, all first-dose vaccinations booked for Jan. 23 and later are canceled. No new appointments will be taken.
Second-dose appointments are not affected, as required by the vaccine’s emergency use authorization.
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.
— Samantha J. Gross / Miami Herald
Palm Beach County Schools Postpone Decision On Start Date After Criticism
Updated Thursday at 5:40 a.m
Parents and students made it clear on Wednesday night: They don’t want a shortened summer after this pandemic school year.
Hearing the frustration, the Palm Beach County School Board postponed a vote to start school on Aug. 10, the earliest date allowed by the state, for the next two years.
The proposal would have shortened the upcoming summer vacation from the traditional 10 weeks to seven weeks. That’s because school started and will end three weeks later this year, on June 18, due to COVID-19.
— By Lois K. Solomon / The South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read more from our news partner at The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Almost A Third Of Broward Students Faring Poorly In School Amid Pandemic, Officials Say
Updated Thursday at 5:34 a.m
Nearly a third of Broward County public school students are not making adequate academic progress as the coronavirus pandemic forced them to turn their homes into classrooms, underscoring a deep divide in digital learning, parental support and a lack of socialization needed for children to thrive, the district’s top administrator said Wednesday.
Out of the Broward public school system’s 203,884 students, almost 59,000 of them are “struggling academically, socially and emotionally,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said during a school board meeting Wednesday morning.
And, he emphasized, the problem is impacting the most vulnerable in the community.
— By David Goodhue / The Miami Herald
Read more from our news partner at The Miami Herald.
