This post will be updated today, Wednesday, April 22, with the latest information on COVID-19 in South Florida.
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WLRN staff continues to add to community resource lists, including this article on where kids and families can get food while schools are closed, and this post about whether and where to get tested for the 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
Broward Joins Other South Florida Districts In Planning Virtual Graduations For High School Seniors
Updated Wednesday at 6 p.m.
It’s official. High school seniors from South Florida’s three largest school districts will be recognized with virtual graduations instead of in-person events, a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Broward County Public Schools announced on Wednesday the district’s graduations would be streamed on public television and online during the second half of June. The district joins Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, whose administrators had previously alerted families they would hold virtual ceremonies.
“Our goal is to use technology to make your graduation personal and memorable,” Superintendent Robert Runcie wrote in a letter to the class of 2020.
“We know photos of you in your cap and gown are important,” Runcie wrote. “All graduation regalia (gowns, cords, stoles, medallions, etc.) will be distributed to seniors in May to enable you to take individual graduation pictures with your families.”
Cypress Bay High School senior Beau Simon, who is also the student advisor to the Broward County school board, said in a statement the district listened to students who said they wanted to maintain traditional aspects of graduation ceremonies like speeches and a roll call.
The format of the virtual graduations, he said, “will allow us to make memories.”
— Jessica Bakeman
Florida Cases Surpass 28,300 As Death Toll Increases To Nearly 900
Updated Wednesday at 12:31 p.m
Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday morning confirmed 440 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases to 28,309. The statewide death toll has jumped to nearly 900, with 26 new deaths announced. The death toll is now at 893.
Of the total statewide cases, 27,543 are Florida residents and 766 are non-residents who were diagnosed or isolated in the state.
Details about the new deaths were not immediately available.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade became the first county in Florida to surpass 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Also on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the state’s coronavirus curve has flattened, but the state’s case data since March might not be complete.
Health experts are concerned the statewide total number of confirmed cases is significantly undercounted because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to hear test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.
— Michelle Marchante / Miami Herald
Broward Memorial Healthcare Expands COVID-19 Testing
Updated Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.
Broward’s Memorial Healthcare System announced Wednesday that it’s expanding its COVID-19 testing criteria.
People who are 18 years or older – whether or not they’re showing symptoms – are now eligible for drive-thru coronavirus testing at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines.
Before, only first responders and health care workers who were asymptomatic could access testing. Anyone else had to be showing symptoms.
Memorial is also offering re-testing for people who’ve already had positive results.
“It’s now very important to see who is negative after a 14-day isolation period because that will help for individuals to know whether or not they’re still contagious as well as for local businesses in the community to understand which workers can safely come back to work once the restrictions are lifted,” said Dr. Jennifer Goldman, medical director of primary care at Memorial, during a Wednesday morning Skype news conference.
Goldman, who is also the medical director of the C.B. Smith Park testing site, said nearly 14,000 people have been tested, and 13,500 results returned, since the drive-thru launched in March, in coordination with the state and Florida National Guard.
Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties remain the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Florida. There are more than 16,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases that the state recorded for the area as of Wednesday morning.
Other nearby testing sites in Miami-Dade have been expanding their criteria as local governments continue to discuss reopening efforts, which depend, in part, on access to testing.
— Alexander Gonzalez
Florida's List Of Elder-Care Homes With COVID-19 Is Incomplete
Updated Tuesday at 8 a.m.
In late March, recordings from Hollywood emergency dispatchers showed that an employee of the Lincoln Manor assisted living facility, a home with a politically connected owner, had tested positive for COVID-19 and that two residents had been removed after exhibiting symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.
On Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis, after resisting for weeks, released a list of elder-care homes that had a resident or staff member test positive for the novel coronavirus since March 2. By Tuesday, the list had 313 names, but Lincoln Manor wasn’t one of them.
Three days after the release of the list, some are questioning whether the list is complete and why it doesn’t contain more useful information.
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.
-Mary Ellen Klas / Miami Herald
