Local News

On a cool Sunday in January, Big Cypress National Preserve is alive. 

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A big question going into this Easter weekend is whether some pastors in Florida will decide to hold services despite the risks of COVID-19 infection. One conservative Christian leader is trying to help congregations – and state and local officials – make the right call.

On this Wednesday, April 8, episode of Sundial:

Disability rights during coronavirus

Hospitals and healthcare workers are doing their best to prepare for Florida’s peak of COVID-19 cases, which is predicted to happen in the next two weeks. The Miami Herald has reported Disability Rights Florida, a statewide advocacy nonprofit for individuals with disabilities, are worried that if Florida runs out of beds and ventilators, medical professionals will be forced to ration care, like we’ve seen in Italy.

Tommy Strangie has played the drag character Shelley Novak at South Beach bars for decades. Now he’s performing karaoke songs from his kitchen, singing into a can of baked beans.

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Governors and public health officials across the country have fought tirelessly for access to more ventilators. Coronavirus attacks a patient's respiratory system and ventilators can be essential in supporting healthy breathing. 

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.

Latin America and the Caribbean have so far avoided the scarier level of COVID-19 infection seen in Europe, Asia and the U.S. But the region’s numbers are starting to jump. And hemispheric health experts on Tuesday had a warning for one country in particular.

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.