This post will be updated today, Tuesday, May 12, with the latest information on COVID-19 in South Florida.
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QUICK UPDATES
Statewide Coronavirus Cases Get Closer To The 42,000 Mark, South Florida Death Toll Increases Above 1,000
Updated Tuesday at 12:15 p.m.
Florida got closer to 42,000 positive cases of COVID-19 as Florida’s Department of Health confirmed an additional 941 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday morning. Florida has a total of 41,923 confirmed cases.
Tuesday's update also included the announcement of 44 new deaths, increasing the statewide number to 1,779. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties make up 1,008 of those reported deaths, including more than 500 deaths in Miami-Dade County. Monroe County has reported three deaths due to COVID-19.
-WLRN News
Broward Residents Fear The Hospital And Are Dying At Home, New Reports
Updated Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.
Fort Lauderdale and Broward fire-rescues’ newly released numbers confirm what many have suspected: More people are afraid to go to the hospital and, as a result, are dying at home.
Reports released Monday from Fort Lauderdale Fire and Rescue and Broward County Fire and Rescue found twice as many people were already dead when responders arrived at their home in April than a year earlier, and the pattern appears to be continuing in May.
In addition, 911 calls have dropped, and the number of people the Fort Lauderdale paramedics have transported to the emergency room fell by nearly 1,000 in April compared to the same month in 2019.
“It is taking a toll on our paramedics who go there to save lives,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan. “They are calling so late in the game they are not able to help them. They are already so far gone they are not able to recover.”
Read more at the Sun Sentinel.
-Cindy Krischer Goodman / Sun Sentinel