This post will be updated today, Monday, August 3, and through the week 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 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
Runcie: Schools Won't Reopen Unless Community Does Part To Slow COVID-19 Spread
Updated Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Broward County Public Schools won’t open until COVID-19 cases plummet — and that’s going to take mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing, Superintendent Robert Runcie said Monday morning during his annual state of the district address.
"I will continue to ask you — our community — for help: The only way our district will be able to open our school buildings is when the community has lowered the number of COVID-19 cases,” he said in the virtual speech.
Even if schools partially reopen, they’ll end up closing again if students or staff test positive for the coronavirus, as has already happened in schools and summer camps in other parts of the country, he said. A school in Indiana and a camp in Georgia grappled with COVID-19 cases within days or even hours of opening.
Runcie also renewed his push for an infusion of federal dollars into schools struggling to operate during the pandemic.
“We ask that everyone fight for our children by advocating for our federal government to pass a coronavirus relief package … and provide at least $200 billion to public schools across this country that serve over 50 million students,” he said.
Runcie said the money is necessary to pay for food, devices and internet access for students and personal protective equipment for school employees.
— Jessica Bakeman/WLRN News
Florida Adds More Than 4,700 Cases, Approaches 500,000 Statewide Cases
Updated Monday at 1 p.m.
Florida surpassed 490,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 4,752 cases of COVID-19 on Monday. Florida has a total of 491,884 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.
Monday's update also included the announcement of 73 new deaths, increasing the statewide number to 7,157. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 3,287 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported 11 deaths due to COVID-19.
-WLRN News
Updated Monday at 6:45 a.m.
Florida Prison Boss, Deputy Test Positive for COVID After Visiting Virus-Ridden Site
After months of attempting to mitigate COVID-19’s spread through the Florida prison system, Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch is facing the highly infectious disease himself.
In a press release sent late Friday night, the department said Inch and Deputy Secretary Ricky Dixon have tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting Columbia Correctional Institution and attending a Florida Sheriff’s Association conference July 27.
On July 30, Inch came down with COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive the same day. Inch, who is still experiencing mild symptoms did not require hospitalization and is self-isolating at home.
Read more from our news partner at the Miami Herald
-Samantha J. Gross/Miami Herald
Florida Reports 7,104 new COVID-19 cases. Miami-Dade also sees a Decrease in New Cases
The state of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard update reported 7,104 new cases Sunday and Miami-Dade reported 1,483 new cases — the fewest on a Sunday for each since June 21.
That day, the state reported a then-Sunday high 3,494 new cases. and Miami-Dade reported 710.
Miami-Dade’s Sunday case count also represented a giant drop for a county that reported over 2,000 cases each of the previous 14 days and over 3,000 on four of those days. Also, the average daily positive test rates decreased in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald
-David Neal/Miami Herald
Florida, Palm Beach County Get Good Coronavirus News
Florida finally got good news in its fight against the coronavirus Sunday when the number of new cases dipped to a one-month low, the rapid rise in deaths eased and the percent of tests coming back positive fell below 10 percent for the first time in 40 days.
Those trends were reflected in Palm Beach County as well, with no deaths reported Sunday, new cases dipping to a level not seen since July 1 and the percent of positive test results remaining below 10 percent for the fifth day in a row.
And all on a day when residents awoke to news that a menacing hurricane would remain at sea as it slipped by in the less-fearsome form of a tropical storm.
Read more from our news partner at the Palm Beach Post
-Joel Engelhardt/The Palm Beach Post
