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Coronavirus Live Updates: Hospital Chief Predicts COVID Will Peak In Florida This Month

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This post will be updated today, Friday, July 10, and through the weekend 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

Hospital Chain Chief Predicts COVID-19 In Florida Will Peak This Month

Updated Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

The peak of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida will be “sometime in front of us in July,” AdventHealth’s president and CEO said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation.

Terry Shaw said that his projection is assuming that people practice social distancing and wear masks to slow the spread of the virus.

His remarks come as Florida on Sunday reported 15,300 new COVID-19 cases, once again shattering its record for a single-day increase in cases since the pandemic began and for the first time breaking a national one-day record, according to The New York Times. The statewide total, including nonresidents, is now 269,811.

Read more from our news partner the Sun-Sentinel

-Naseem S. Miller/Sun-Sentinel

Florida Sets National One-Day Record For New Cases Of COVID-19 With 15,300

Updated Sunday at 11:55 a.m.

Sunday, Florida reported the most new COVID-19 cases any state has in a single day, 15,300.

This blew past the previous high, 12,274 by New York on April 4, by 3,026 or 24.6%.

With that massive leap, Florida has added 69,700 cases since last Sunday, 269,811 since the start of the pandemic. The 45 deaths reported Sunday brought that total to 4,346.

Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald

-David J. Neal/Miami Herald

Keys Schools Cancel In-Person Summer Boost Program
Updated Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

The Monroe County school district canceled an in-person summer boost program for students in kindergarten through second-grade planned for this week, on the advice of the local office of the Department of Health.

The program was deemed too risky as Coronavirus cases rise in the Keys, with an all-time high of 74 cases reported on Saturday.

The district will instead offer a virtual version of the program, designed to help young kids get ready for the new school year.

Classes are set to resume in Monroe County Aug. 13. The district has a three-pronged approach on whether instruction will be on campus, online or a hybrid, depending on the level of Coronavirus spread in the community.

-Nancy Klingener/WLRN

State Reports 10,383 New COVID-19 Cases Saturday

Updated Saturday at 12:05 p.m.

Cases of COVID-19 in Florida pushed past a quarter million Saturday, as the state reported 10,383 additional people with the disease.

The state posted 95 additional deaths. A state summary released Saturday morning listed 188 additional deaths, but that appears to have been a miscalculation.

Neither total is a record, but both reflect the worsening trends of the past two weeks. The record for deaths was set Thursday, with 120.

Read more from our news partner the Sun Sentinel

-David Fleshler/Sun-Sentinel

Keys Libraries Back To Curbside Service After Staffer Tests Positive At Key West Branch
Updated Saturday at 9 a.m.

All five branches of the Monroe County Library are closing buildings to the public, limiting service to curbside pick-up and drop off after a staff member at the Key West branch tested positive for COVID-19.

The county is working with the local Department of Health on contact tracing and the facility is being sanitized. The public can reach reference and informational services by telephone and online via chat and email. Ebooks, audiobooks, streaming video and other materials are still available. You can apply for a library card online at www.keyslibraries.org.

-Nancy Klingener/WLRN News

Hospital Staffing, Oxygen Concerns In Broward County As Pandemic Ravages On

Updated Friday at 3:45 p.m.

Executives and medical experts warn it's not just bed capacity to watch as cases rise during the pandemic — it's staffing levels. 

Broward County commissioners were brief during a special COVID-19 workshop Friday. 

Dr. Stanley Marks is Chief Medical Officer at Memorial Healthcare System: 

"This surge is at a higher level and a higher rate and we have no idea how long it's going to last,” he said. “It's very hard to manufacture people. So our nurses, our technicians and our physicians, don't forget they've been in this game now for five months. And we're seeing a much larger surge than we saw…”

Marks told the commission, the supply and volume of oxygen used to help keep people off of ventilators is becoming a concern. 

"It seems like the vendors that supply oxygen in these very large tanks, they're going to have an issue in terms of supplying oxygen to all of us as time goes on,” Marks said. “We're already beginning to see that problem.”

According to Memorial Healthcare System, people from northern Miami-Dade County are coming up to the Broward County Hospital system for COVID-19 treatment. 

Commissioners also heard similar staffing sentiments from Broward Health officials, as well as business enforcement reports from county staff and law enforcement updates on COVID-19. You can watch the full workshop here.

— Caitie Switalski/ WLRN News

Statewide Coronavirus Cases Increase By More Than 11,400

Updated Friday at 11:40 a.m.

Florida surpassed 244,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 11,433 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Florida has a total of 244,151 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.

Friday's update also included the announcement of 93 new deaths, increasing the statewide number to 4,102. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 2,142 of those reported deaths. Monroe County has reported six deaths due to COVID-19. 

— WLRN News

Virus Strains Hospitals

Updated Friday at 7:30 a.m.

One of the largest hospital systems in South Florida said its facilities are nearing capacity as the region’s COVID-19 crisis continued to escalate on Thursday, filling hospital beds and further straining doctors and nurses who have been caring for patients since March.

At Baptist Health South Florida, which has six hospitals in Miami-Dade, two in Monroe and three in Palm Beach counties, the pace of new patient admissions for the virus is testing the healthcare system’s limits even after administrators recently postponed non-emergency surgeries.

“Most of our hospitals are at capacity but we’re able to manage the capacity for now,” said Bo Boulenger, chief operating officer for Baptist Health. “We are seeing a very high rate of people needing to be admitted to our hospitals because of the virus. It is double the admission rate during the peak in early April.”

Read more from our news partners the Miami Herald.

— Ben Conarck and Daniel Chang/Miami Herald

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