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We’re keeping track of the latest news regarding the coronavirus in South Florida and around the state. Check back for updates throughout the day.
MONROE COUNTY TO CLOSE U.S. 1 TO TOURISTS INTO FLORIDA KEYS
6:05 p.m.: Monroe County decided Tuesday afternoon to place a checkpoint on U.S. 1 at mile marker 112.5 on the 18-mile stretch leading to Florida City on the mainland, sources say. This decision closes the only major highway into the Florida Keys as part of the effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
It’s not clear when the policy goes into effect.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Florida Department of Heath has confirmed that three people in the Keys have tested positive for COVID-19.
BABY, 2-YEAR-OLD GIRL TEST POSITIVE IN BROWARD
5:20 p.m.: A baby boy and a 2-year-old girl have tested positive for COVID-19 in Broward County, the Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday. The health department’s data list the boy’s age as zero, making him the youngest person in the state known to be ill with COVID-19.
Broward health department officials did not immediately respond to requests for information about the case.
INFO ON TESTING AT MARLINS PARK
5 p.m.: A coronavirus drive-thru testing site at Marlins Park opens on Wednesday. Call 305-499-8767 to schedule an appointment, with only about 300 tests administered per day.
Here’s more info on the new testing site from Miami Herald reporter Doug Hanks ...
If you’re 65 in Miami-Dade & you think you have coronavirus symptoms, call 305-499-8767 to schedule an appointment for drive-thru testing at Marlins Park. Phone line opens at 5 pm Tue & closes at 7 pm. Testing begins Wed at 9 am. Appointment required. Only about 300 tests per day pic.twitter.com/58SbKzHjYB
4:20 p.m.: Gov. Ron DeSantis again said Tuesday that anyone traveling from New York City to Florida or who has traveled from New York City in the last three weeks must self isolate for 14 days and report the contacts they’ve had with anyone in the state.
DeSantis said members of the Florida National Guard will be deployed at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where they will collect information from visitors coming off flights from New York City. Those visitors will receive advice on how to self isolate and contact numbers for county health departments.
DeSantis made it a criminal penalty for anyone on those flights to violate the quarantine order.
The order applies to all people whose points of departure originate from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. It took effect Monday.
MIAMI-DADE ORDERS LIMIT ON PUBLIC GATHERINGS
3:55 p.m.: Miami-Dade County residents are being told not to gather in groups of 10 or more in public spaces. The order was issued by County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Tuesday to further encourage social distancing and slow the spread of COVID-19.
The order makes an exception for people on public transit vehicles, those waiting at a bus stop, Metromover stop or Metrorail stop, and those traveling in larger vehicles that can fit more than 10. There are also exceptions for government employees and contractors working for the government who are providing services on public streets, alleys and sidewalks.
3 p.m.: An immigration agent at Miami International Airport tested positive for COVID-19, two federal Customs and Border Protection sources confirmed to the Miami Herald.
CBP notified the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department about the positive case on Monday, according to Miami International Airport officials. It is unclear when the agent began having symptoms, but the person has not to returned to work since getting tested late last week.
BACARDI HELPING TO MAKE HAND SANITIZER
A cargo truck stationed in front of the Bacardi rum factory in Puerto Rico.
2:45 p.m.: One of the world’s largest rum factories, the Bacardi plant in Puerto Rico, is producing ethanol needed to make hand sanitizer.
Olein Refinery, a Puerto Rican manufacturer, is then using the Bacardi alcohol to produce more than 1.7 million 10-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer. Most of it is being given to police, nurses, non-profits and others on the frontlines of the coronavirus.
The temporary production shift began March 17 and will continue as long as needed. It’s not expected to affect rum production, the company said.
Other Bacardi sites are also joining in. The Bacardi Bottling Corporation in North Jacksonville will begin producing 120,000 units of hand sanitizers this week, all of which will be donated. And eight other plants in six countries are expected to join the effort.
The Holland America Line Zaandam ship, owned by Carnival Corporation, originally left Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 7 with 1,243 passengers and 586 crew on board. Of the 77 people with flu-like symptoms on board, 47 are crew members.
There is no COVID-19 testing currently available on board.
Broward County commissioners held a special session Tuesday morning to discuss what to do with the ship. In the end, the commission decided to wait to make a call.
“We’re not ready to make a decision at this time,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dale Holness. “We don’t have any CDC [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] confirmation about what is going on with that ship.”
A survey by WalletHub, a personal finance website based in Washington, ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia for aggressiveness against the coronavirus.
Researchers looked at 46 key metrics that included state legislation on prevention and containment, tested cases of COVID-19 per capita, state and local public health labs per capita, share of workers with access to paid sick leave, total public health emergency preparedness funding per capita, and share of the workforce in affected industries.
Florida ranked 36th overall — below average, dead last in the nation in state and local public health laboratories per capita.
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday morning confirmed 185 additional cases of COVID-19 and one new death, bringing the state total of confirmed cases to 1,412. The death toll is now at 18.
The Florida Department of Health added 60 cases in Miami-Dade County, bringing the total up to 338. In Broward County, 48 cases were added, bringing the total to 311.
Miami-Dade County and Broward County make up 46 percent of the state’s total confirmed cases.
COVID-19 Cases in Florida
FIELD HOSPITAL GOING UP IN MIAMI-DADE
11:25 a.m.: A 250-bed field hospital on Miami-Dade’s fairgrounds is being assembled in Westchester as the county’s health system prepares for a surge of coronavirus cases.
Construction crews arrived Monday night for the emergency build and construction continued Tuesday morning.
It’s not yet known if the facility is for coronavirus cases or patients with other needs diverted from emergency rooms.
EMPLOYEE AT FLORIDA PRISON TESTS POSITIVE
10:40 a.m.: An employee at a state prison for men in Central Florida has tested positive for COVID-19, the Florida Department of Corrections confirmed Tuesday morning.
The employee, who tested positive for the disease on Sunday, works at the Marion Correctional Institution’s Work Camp in Ocala. Florida Corrections did not disclose the employee’s position in the camp or how much contact the employee might have had with inmates.
As of Tuesday, the FDC says none of its inmates or staffers at the facility are showing symptoms.
NEW OVERTOWN RESTAURANT USED FOR CORONAVIRUS AID
9:40 a.m.: Marcus Samuelsson’s celebrity-owned Overtown restaurant, Harlem’s Red Rooster at 920 NW Second Ave., is opening this week in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. And José Andrés’ volunteer staff will be using the kitchen to cook meals for those out of work.
Andres’ staff, together with the would-be Red Rooster chefs, will create packaged meals for workers laid off from Miami’s food and restaurant industry. But anyone who comes to the restaurant will be fed, they say.
The plan is to start setting out meals as early as Friday from noon to 4 p.m. The meals, which include a one-pound sandwich, hearty salad and bread, will be free to those who cannot afford it, but the organization is asking for donations to help pay the laid-off local staff who will be preparing them.
CATCH UP TO START THE DAY
9:10 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Tuesday begins.
▪ There were 1,227 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida as of Monday evening, according to the Florida Department of Health. Seventeen people have died in the state.
▪ Miami Beach became the first city in Miami-Dade County to enact a stay-at-home order. The Beach’s new rules, which City Manager Jimmy Morales signed Monday afternoon, take effect Tuesday.
▪ Broward County closed all of its parks effective 11:59 p.m. Monday in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
▪ A group of more than 75 emergency room doctors, nurses and physician assistants issued an open letter Monday to the people of Miami-Dade County, pleading with them to remain in their homes and to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.
▪ A Hialeah narcotics detective tested positive for the novel coronavirus late last week, according to law enforcement sources. It marks the second publicly acknowledged positive test of a police officer in an agency in Miami-Dade County.
▪ Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state of Florida will require “anybody traveling from those regions in New York or New Jersey to the state of Florida is going to have to do a mandatory 14-day self isolation.”
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