Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on March 25
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.
UNIVISION’S MIAMI STUDIO CLOSES
6:05 p.m.: Univision’s Doral news studio building was closed after at least two employees tested positive for the coronavirus, on-air reporters announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The building is now closed while news shows are being broadcast from homes and parking lots of Univision’s two studios in Doral. The affected building, 8551 NW 30th Terr., houses the local news and national news divisions.
HEAT’S ERIK SPOELSTRA HAS A MESSAGE
5:50 p.m.: In his first public comments since the NBA suspended the season on March 11, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra delivered a message to fans via a video posted to social media Wednesday.
DUFFY’S CLOSES TEMPORARILY
5:30 p.m.: Duffy’s Sports Grill has temporarily suspended its operations at all 34 of its Florida restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The restaurants, with locations in Kendall, North Miami Beach, Plantation and Fort Lauderdale, had been offering takeout and delivery service after Miami closed down area restaurants in response to the COVID-19 threat. The last delivery service ends at 8 p.m. March 25.
CRACKDOWN COMING IN MIAMI-DADE
4 p.m.: If you’re not following social distancing guidelines yet, now would be a good time to start.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez promised a “day of action” Wednesday by police and code enforcement inspectors to make businesses and residents comply with emergency orders for people to keep their distances from each other.
SOUTH FLORIDA TRANSIT OPTIONS DURING PANDEMIC
3:10 p.m.: Still rely on mass transit to get to work? Well, that aspect of society has not shut down, but there are changes that you need to know.
Check out all of the mass transit changes in the area here ...
DESANTIS AGAIN DEFENDS DECISION TO NOT SHUT DOWN STATE
2:50 p.m.: Despite outside pressure, Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to insist there’s no need to lock down the entire state of Florida. The goal of a state-wide shelter-in-place order would be to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
“Different communities have done different mitigation measures,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “We supported working with the local communities to apply an approach that makes sense for them.”
Miami-Dade and Broward counties were the first to order non-essential businesses to close and other communities have followed. Miami-Dade (400 cases as of Wednesday morning) and Broward (355) make up 44.9 percent of Florida’s 1,682 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“There are certain parts of the state where they have more sporadic cases, and to order someone not to be able to have a paycheck when them going to work is not going to have an effect on what we’re doing with the virus, that’s something that’s inappropriate,” DeSantis said.
PEPSI HIRING IN MIAMI COMMUNITY
1:25 p.m.: With demand surging, the PepsiCo Beverages North America South Division team is looking to make temporary hires in Miami immediately.
Interested candidates are encouraged to visit https://pepsifrontlinecareers.com/ to learn more on how to apply.
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?
12:50 p.m.: The City of Miami is hosting a special virtual commission meeting tonight at 8, and public comments are being accepted. The deadline for submissions is today at 3 p.m.
For more information, please visit: miamigov.com/virtualmeeting.
HEAT’S HASLEM SPEAKS OUT
12:35 p.m.: Veteran Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem, a Miami native, spoke out against spring breakers mocking the coronavirus pandemic while in his city, in a piece posted Wednesday on The Players’ Tribune.
His opening five paragraphs set the tone.
“You see that video going around of these silly ass college kids down in South Florida on spring break? Talking about, ‘If I get corona, I get corona, bro,’ and all that nonsense?
Man, I’ll tell you one thing for sure.
Those kids have never been hungry a day in their life.
They never had to worry about nothing more serious than a pop quiz. But they’re still coming down here — coming to our state — in the middle of a pandemic, acting like nothing’s going on??
I’m not usually the kind of guy who does this sort of thing…. I don’t write a lot of articles. But if you [expletive] with my city, I’m going to speak on it.”
Read Haslem’s full piece here ...
UPDATED STATE NUMBERS
12 p.m.: On Wednesday morning, The Florida Department of Health confirmed 215 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases to 1,682. Two new deaths were also reported, and the toll is now 22.
As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, the state’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, which classifies the cases by county on an interactive map, still showed Tuesday night’s numbers. It’s unclear how many new cases are in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties.
HOW WILL FLORIDA’S HOSPITALS HANDLE THE CORONAVIRUS?
11:25 a.m.: In Florida alone, at least 688,000 people over the age of 18 are projected to need hospitalization from the disease, according to an analysis by the Harvard Global Health Institute and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The projection accounts for the large portion of Floridians over 65 — nearly 20 percent of the state’s adult population — who are more likely to be hospitalized than younger people as a result of the disease.
The calculations by Harvard show that if 20 percent of the population of Florida contracts COVID-19 within six months hospitals across the state will be overrun with more patients than they have available beds. In some areas, the demand for beds would be more than triple the current capacity.
Read the full story here ...
DEMOCRATS URGING FLORIDA GOVERNOR TO SHUT DOWN STATE
10:45 a.m.: “While other large states continue to take strong, urgent, and sweeping action to stop the spread of COVID-19, Florida has not,” Former Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement issued Wednesday morning by his campaign. “I urge Governor DeSantis to let the experts speak to the public and explain why this is the case. In this moment of growing uncertainty and anxiety, Floridians want — and deserve — to hear from the public health officials leading the charge.”
On Tuesday, several Democrats in the state Senate called on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to slow the spread of COVID-19 by issuing a statewide shelter-in-place order. That was followed Wednesday morning by a letter from 10 Democratic members of Congress urging DeSantis to act quickly.
“We understand the grave economic consequences this action will have. But hoping to dull the impacts on the economy in the short term by delaying a shelter-in-place order will only exacerbate those impacts in the medium and long term,” stated the letter, issued by the office of U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch and signed by every Democratic representative from South Florida.
DeSantis has said he does not believe a statewide lockdown of Florida is necessary at this point because some parts of the state, like South Florida, are dealing with more coronavirus cases than others.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
10:35 a.m.: In this time of crisis, we want to hear from you, whether you are a healthcare worker deprived of protective equipment, a government employee who sees waste or malfeasance, a nursing home resident being neglected, an ill-treated hospital patient, a shopper who sees price gouging or simply a member of the public who knows of a story that needs to be told. You can reach us in a variety of ways, including anonymously.
Phone: 305-376-3431
Email: tips@MiamiHerald.com
For greater security, you can use:
Protonmail: miamiherald@protonmail.com
Keybase: miamiherald
CATCH UP TO START THE DAY
9:20 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Wednesday begins.
▪ COVID-19 testing centers have arrived in South Florida, with more expected to open in the coming weeks. Here’s an updated list, with more details on each site ...
▪ The city of Miami on Tuesday ordered residents to stay home except when shopping, exercising and taking other trips to jobs and other places already exempted from widespread closure orders from the coronavirus crisis.
▪ 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.
▪ A Florida International University student has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the school confirmed Tuesday night.
▪ A trio of corrections officers from three different Miami-Dade jails have tested positive for COVID-19, the county confirmed on Tuesday night.
▪ Miami-Dade County announced a two-week closure of the Permitting and Inspection Center at 11805 SW 26th St. in Kendall and said all staff who worked there were told to begin two weeks of self-isolation. Four employees in the building have tested positive for COVID-19.
▪ To prevent further spread of the coronavirus, Publix will be putting plexiglass at all checkout lanes, pharmacies and customer service desks. Chain-wide installation, set to begin this weekend, is expected to take two weeks.
▪ Royal Caribbean Cruises has pushed back to at least May when its ships will sail again.
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on March 25."
