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Coronavirus Live Updates: South Florida Leads Nation In COVID-Related Food Scarcity

COVID-19 testing site
PEDRO PORTAL
/
Miami Herald

This post will be updated today, Friday, July 3, 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

South Florida Leads Nation In Food Scarcity From Pandemic

Updated Sunday at 5:35 p.m.

More than one in seven South Florida households now say they sometimes or often do not have enough to eat, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week. It’s the highest rate in the nation, ahead of Houston and New York.

And after showing signs of decline, the percentages have begun increasing for the region.

/The census bureau launched a real-time, nationwide survey of households about their income, job, and food security shortly after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald

-Rob Wile/Miami Herald

After Saturday’s Record, Florida Adds Another 10K Coronavirus Cases — And Crosses 200K Mark

Updated at 12:10 p.m. Sunday

Florida has now reported more than 200,000 cases of the coronavirus, adding another 10,000 cases on Sunday.

That jump followed the stunning one-day record of nearly 11,500 cases announced on the Fourth of July holiday, as Miami-Dade County added a curfew, mandated masks in public and slowed reopening plans. With Saturday’s jump, Florida’s numbers are now as high as New York state’s were during the height of its pandemic in mid-April.

Broward County saw its biggest jump in cases yet, with nearly 1,700 new infections announced on Sunday. The much smaller Monroe County, the Florida Keys, also saw a high of 31 new infections.

Meanwhile, some hospitals in the Tampa Bay area and southwest Florida have run out of ICU beds. Around 80 percent of ICU beds are filled in each of South Florida’s largest counties — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — with half of ICU beds occupied in the Keys.

—Jessica Bakeman/WLRN News

More Marlins, Heat Players Test Positive For COVID-19

Updated at 12:05 p.m. Sunday

Four members of the Miami Marlins and three Heat players have tested positive for COVID-19, according to reports from our news partner the Miami Herald.

Both Miami professional sports teams have been conducting regular testing of their players. Three of the positive Marlins players are “nearing the end of their quarantine,” the Herald reported, while one of the infections was discovered last week. The baseball team began its training camp on Friday.

Two of the three Heat players with the coronavirus tested positive in the last week, causing the American Airlines Arena to close its practice facility. The NBA season is scheduled to resume at the end of the month.

The names of the COVID-19-positive Marlins and Heat players have not been released.

Read more from the Miami Herald here and here.

—Jessica Bakeman/WLRN News

Another Record Day For New COVID-19 Cases With 11,458 Reported Saturday

Updated Saturday at 11:20 a.m.

Florida has shattered its previous coronavirus record. This morning the state reported 11,458 new cases. Friday saw 9,488 cases, the third highest spike since the crisis began.

Florida’s numbers had been holding steady with about 1,500 to 2,000 new infections reported daily when the pandemic was taking hold of the state. But all that changed four weeks ago when suddenly there were 3,000 cases. And then more as the numbers toppled the 4,000 mark and then the 5,000 threshold.

Read more from our news partner theSun Sentinel

-Eileen Kelley/Sun-Sentinel

Statewide Coronavirus Cases Surpass 178,000, South Florida Deaths Near 2,000

Updated Friday at 11:45 a.m.

Florida surpassed 178,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 9,488 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Florida has a total of 178,594 confirmed positive cases, according to the state's health department.

Friday's update also included the announcement of 67 new deaths, increasing the statewide number to 3,785. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 1,976 of those reported deaths — including 1,000 in Miami-Dade. Monroe County has reported five deaths due to COVID-19. 

-WLRN News

Miami-Dade Takes A Step Back

Updated Friday at 7:30 a.m.

On the day Florida recorded a record high single-day of 10,109 new cases of COVID-19, South Florida’s local governments responded with more restrictions — including a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in Miami-Dade — as patient volumes at local hospitals continued to swell past the high water mark from early April.

Amid those developments, the health department reported the death of an 11-year-old boy in Miami-Dade, the youngest person to succumb from the novel coronavirus in the state.

After weeks of surging case numbers, health officials scrambled to ramp up testing to the maximum capacity of 28,000 tests a day at the 47 state-run sites dotting Florida. Familiar scenes of winding car lanes filled with people waiting to get tested have spurred renewed complaints about the difficulty of getting a test and how long it takes to get results.

Read more from our news partner the Miami Herald.

— Ben Conarck and Daniel Chang/Miami Herald

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