Florida Keys

Monroe County Looks To Start Cutting Costs By Putting Staff On Furlough

By Nancy Klingener • Apr 7, 2020

In Monroe County, tourism provides the primary source of jobs and sales tax revenues. So the county has been hit hard as coronavirus shut down all travel. On Tuesday, the county announced plans to start cutting its payroll.

Letter From Key West: Coronavirus Brings Keys Questions About Connection - And Survival

By Nancy Klingener • Apr 7, 2020

This essay was part of an episode of The Sunshine Economy, focused entirely on the impact of the coronavirus on the tourism industry of the Keys:

The Keys may be a chain of islands where we love to talk about our independence and resilience. But we're also a peninsula, permanently tethered to the mainland, starting in 1912 when Henry Flagler ran his railroad tracks all the way to Key West.

Fake Hurricane Re-entry Stickers Causing Headaches At Keys Checkpoint

By Nancy Klingener • Apr 6, 2020

When Monroe County put up a checkpoint to limit entry to the island chain, they thought they had an easy way to identify people who live in the Keys.

Facing A New Peril, Key Westers Seek Solace At Grotto Built To Protect Them From Storms

By Nancy Klingener • Apr 6, 2020

At the Roman Catholic basilica in Key West there's a grotto, where the faithful pray when hurricanes are approaching the island. And islanders are turning to it now, as they face a different threat.

ICE Inmates Moved From Keys Jail To Krome On Mainland

By Monique O. Madan • Apr 5, 2020

After nearly 23 years of housing immigration inmates for the federal government, the Monroe County detention center in Key West abruptly severed its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials confirmed.

The move to quietly bus 48 detainees from the Monroe County detention center on Stock Island to the Krome detention center in Miami-Dade County in the middle of the night Friday was made after the sheriff’s office requested that all immigration inmates be picked up and transferred out.

They Need Your Love On YouTube To Share Their Love With Family Far Away

By Nancy Klingener • Apr 2, 2020

By putting an end to travel and gatherings of people, the coronavirus has stopped not only businesses and conferences but also important personal events. Like weddings.

Florida Keys Checkpoint Up Indefinitely, Without Help From The State

By Nancy Klingener • Mar 30, 2020

When Monroe County put up its check points at the county line on Friday, sheriff's deputies were joined by state troopers who were stationed in the Keys. But not for long, according to Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay.

Heard On Sundial: The Florida Keys Shutdown, Restaurants Close Their Doors

By Alejandra Martinez • Mar 30, 2020

On this Monday, March 30, episode of Sundial:

Key West Mayor Teri Johnston

The Florida Keys have closed hotels, vacation rentals, some beaches and parks because of COVID-19.

The Sunshine Economy: Closing The Keys To Fight Coronavirus

By Tom Hudson • Mar 30, 2020

Fifty percent unemployment?

That's the guess from Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi.

Keys Checkpoints Staying Up

By Nancy Klingener • Mar 29, 2020

The Florida Keys checkpoints at the county lines on U.S. 1 and Card Sound Road will remain up, Monroe County officials said Sunday.

With Three Hospitals — One Temporary — Do Keys Have Capacity For COVID?

By Nancy Klingener • Mar 25, 2020

So far, Monroe County has only seen a few cases of COVID-19 — three cases by the 6 p.m. Tuesday update. But the 100-mile-long island chain only has three hospitals — and one of them is a temporary facility while a new one is built to replace the building destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

Florida Keys To Set Up Roadblock: Locals Only

By Nancy Klingener • Mar 24, 2020

Monroe County is setting up a roadblock to make sure only Keys residents can drive onto the island chain.

Tourist Towns Without Tourists: Keys Close Down To Visitors

By David Goodhue & Gwen Filosa • Mar 21, 2020

Imagine the Florida Keys without tourists.

Carol Wightman, an owner of the Marquesa Hotel since it opened 32 years ago in Key West, simply can’t.

She was stunned by the county’s decision to shut down lodging to tourists.

“You might as well shutter the whole town,” Wightman said.

Florida Keys' First Presumptive Positive Case Of COVID-19 Is Travel Related, Officials Say

By Devoun Cetoute / Miami Herald • Mar 20, 2020

After 30 people were tested in the Florida Keys for the novel coronavirus, the Florida Department of Health said late Thursday night there was one presumptive positive COVID-19 case in the island chain.

Shortly after 10:30 pm., a Monroe County spokewoman sent an email saying the case is travel related and has not been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To protect the person’s privacy, health officials did not disclose the name nor the location of the person who has tested presumptive positive.

Keys To Tourists: Go Home

By Nancy Klingener • Mar 19, 2020

In a move to prevent the spread of coronavirus, on Thursday evening Monroe County ordered hotels and other tourist lodging — like vacation rentals and RV parks — to close at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The county cited "the increasing cases [of coronavirus] in the counties north of Monroe County." As of 5 p.m. Thursday, there had been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Keys.

Hotels were directed to stop taking reservations immediately. The order is for two weeks, to be re-evaluated every day.

Florida Keys

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