WLRN staff continues to add updates on testing and vaccination sites, executive orders and messages from government officials, and the latest news on COVID-19. You can find information on free food and food distributions here.
The dedicated website for the Florida Department of Health, including information about the 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
Florida Adds More Than 3,100 New Cases, 51 New Resident Deaths
Updated Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 3,184 positive cases of COVID-19 Wednesday. The state has a total of 2,278,549 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Wednesday update also included the announcement of 51 new resident deaths, increasing the statewide number of Floridians who died to 35,882. Factoring in non-resident deaths the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 36,598.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 12,061 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported 49 deaths due to COVID-19.
— WLRN News
COVID Hospitalizations Are Falling Faster In South Florida Than The Rest Of The State
Updated Wednesday at 2:31 p.m.
Once Florida’s COVID epicenter, Miami-Dade County is now seeing the virus retreat from its hospitals at a faster clip than the rest of the state.
The number of people hospitalized from COVID in Florida hospitals has dropped about 17% in the last two weeks, from 3,345 on April 23 to 2,746 on Tuesday, according to state data. In that same time period, the number has dipped 27% in Miami-Dade, from 595 patients two weeks ago to 437 as of Tuesday. Broward County is seeing a similar drop — 23% in the last two weeks.
Mary Jo Trepka, an epidemiologist at Florida International University, said hospitalizations in Miami-Dade still haven’t hit their low point from mid-October. Back then, the seven-day average of COVID patients dipped as low as 328 on Oct. 20, according to county data. But the number has crept down to its lowest point since then.
Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald.
— By Ben Conarck / Miami Herald
Last Call For Alcohol: Commission To Hold Final Vote On 2 a.m. Rollback In South Beach
Updated Wednesday at 5:58 a.m.
The Miami Beach City Commission will hold a potentially binding vote Wednesday on a proposal to stop selling alcohol after 2 a.m. in the South Beach entertainment district.
But on the day before the vote, questions remained about whether the legislation would be permanent or rolled out as a temporary pilot program if approved.
As it was written on Tuesday, the ordinance would permanently move up by three hours the current 5 a.m. cutoff of alcohol sales on Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive from 16th Street to Fifth Street. However, the commission voted last month to approve the proposal as a temporary restriction — though no details were offered about the duration of the pilot program.
Read more from our news partner at the Miami Herald.
— By Martin Vassolo / Miami Herald
