Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on April 10
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.
Friday night numbers update
7 p.m.: As of Friday evening, the state’s total cases are at 17,968 and 419 deaths. Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties make up 10,465 of those confirmed COVID-19 cases and 238 deaths.
Since Thursday evening the state has seen an increase of 1,142 cases and 48 new deaths, which match Florida’s deadliest day since the outbreak began.
Read the full story here.
51 cases in rural North Florida nursing home
6:20 p.m.: A nursing home in the rural North Florida town of Live Oak has become a virtual hotspot as at least 51 people have tested positive for COVID-19, including 30 members of the staff.
For the last 10 days, the number of staff members at Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation infected with the coronavirus cases has continued to soar, reaching a high of 30 on Friday with the results of more tests from the 180-bed facility still pending.
Read the full story here.
Coronavirus headline roundup
5 p.m.: As we get to the end of the workday on this Friday, here are some headlines to catch you up on our work from the day.
▪ Doctor who tests homeless for COVID-19 says cop cuffed him at his home for no reason
▪ COVID-19 public-service ads with DeSantis, other officials aren’t OK, ethics panel says
▪ An important, overlooked coronavirus scenario that could threaten the NFL season
▪ FDA gives emergency OK to new COVID-19 blood purification treatment for some ICU patients
At least 100 deaths in Miami-Dade, mayor says
4:20 p.m.: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told reporters Friday that the county medical examiner has reported around 100 deaths due to COVID-19, more than the state-reported total of 74. The state’s figures appear on a dashboard maintained by the Florida Department of Health.
Gimenez said he didn’t know why there was a discrepancy, suggesting there could be a lag between when the county-recorded deaths are tallied by the state.
The mayor also shared some demographic information about the people who have died.
“There’s at least 100 fatalities here in Miami-Dade County, we’re getting some interesting stats about that,” he said in a virtual press conference. “It appears that three-quarters of the fatalities are actually male.”
Hospitals say they’re ready for a surge of patients
4 p.m.: As Florida prepares for a surge in seriously ill COVID-19 patients in the next two weeks, healthcare officials across the state say hospitals — including those in hard-hit South Florida — have plenty of room to handle more patients.
But underpinning their confidence is the state’s inventory of bed space and a national model built on assumptions based on positive test results that, healthcare experts admit, is fraught with uncertainty because only a small fraction of Floridians have been tested for the virus, and the universe of potential cases remains unknown.
Read the full story here.
More Oasis of the Seas crew members evacuated
3:30 p.m.: Two more sick crew members were evacuated from the Oasis of the Seas Friday afternoon, with one so sick the person couldn’t be transported by boat.
This brings the total of crew members so ill they needed to be hospitalized to seven in a little over a week on the Royal Caribbean ship.
Ellen Kennedy, spokeswoman for Port Everglades, confirmed the medical evacuations Friday afternoon. Royal Caribbean also confirmed the evacuations.
Read the full story here.
Two more Trader Joe’s employees test positive
3:20 p.m.: Twelve days after a manager at the Miami Beach Trader Joe’s tested positive for COVID-19, two workers at the South Beach store learned they also have the novel coronavirus, the chain confirmed.
“They had not been in the store for several days,” Trader Joe’s spokesperson Kenya Friend-Daniel emailed. “We worked with local and state health officials to determine the best measures. The store received a deep cleaning overnight and reopened this morning.”
Read the full story here.
Miami’s billion-dollar floral industry impacted
12:50 p.m.: With springtime comes flowers.
This is especially true at this time of year, with Easter Sunday, Mother’s Day (May 10) and spring weddings usually making it one of the busiest periods for growers, florists, flower importers, logistics companies and shippers, which make up a billion dollar-plus industry in South Florida.
But with the coronavirus shuttering churches and restaurants — two major consumers of flowers for Easter services and brunches — as well as shelter-in-place orders meaning fewer are hosting Easter dinners at home and spring weddings are postponed, growers across the world have had to kill their crops as demand has withered due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full story here.
Widespread coronavirus outbreak at one Florida prison
12:30 p.m.: Less than one week after the first case was reported there in the prison population, a much wider coronavirus outbreak has gripped a privately managed prison in Florida’s Panhandle — and the inmates are sounding the alarm.
Thirty coronavirus cases have been reported among inmates at Blackwater River Correctional Facility near Pensacola, operated by the Geo Group. That accounts for all but one of the inmate positives currently acknowledged by the Florida prison system, the third-largest in the country.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, which also has infected six Blackwater staffers, inmates are not allowed to cover their faces — even with the front of their shirts, family members said. Cleaning products were distributed for the first time Tuesday.
Read the full story here.
More than 10,000 confirmed cases in South Florida
11:50 a.m.: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties now have 10,207 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 225 deaths attributed to novel coronavirus infections.
Friday morning’s coronavirus pandemic update from the state of Florida shows another 14 deaths in South Florida, eight of which were in Miami-Dade, which also has surpassed 6,000 cases. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach each have had over 70 acknowledged COVID-19 deaths.
South Florida accounts for 58.2 percent of Florida’s 17,531 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 57.7 percent of the state’s 390 deaths.
Read the full story here.
Broward diverts juvenile detainees to Miami-Dade
11:30 a.m.: Youths arrested in Broward County who meet criteria for juvenile detention will be diverted to Miami-Dade’s lockup beginning Friday as an employee of the Broward County Juvenile Detention Center has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Broward’s chief Juvenile Court judge, Michael Orlando, said early Friday morning that he had been informed by the detention center’s superintendent, Duviel Rosello, that the lockup, at 222 NW 22nd Ave., Fort Lauderdale, was being closed to new admissions. An unidentified staff member at the 95-bed facility was confirmed to have the virus leading to COVID-19, the global pandemic that has swept South Florida.
Read the full story here.
First Miami inmate tests positive for coronavirus
11:15 a.m.: The first inmate at a Miami-Dade jail has tested positive for COVID-19, the corrections department confirmed.
The unidentified inmate had been at the medical ward of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade since March 30, a corrections spokesman said on Friday morning. “The affected housing unit is being thoroughly cleaned, inmates are quarantined and staff who had been in contact are being sent for testing,” the department wrote in a tweet.
Read the full story here.
Staying entertained despite closed amenities
10:30 a.m.: One of the biggest perks of living in an apartment or condo building are the sweet amenities — pools, recreational areas, gyms, outdoor barbecue pits, kiddie playrooms, tennis courts.
But since Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered all amenities in residential buildings closed on March 30 over concerns of the spread of the coronavirus, apartments and condos have started to feel too small, no matter the size.
To help ease self-isolation fever during the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami condo managers and government agencies are finding ways to keep tenants entertained and off each other’s nerves: Instagram happy hours, live follow-at-home Zumba classes, virtual museum tours.
Read the full story here.
Face masks from python skin
9:45 a.m.: Across America, people are making coronavirus masks with everything from t-shirts and pillowcases to vacuum cleaner bags.
Because it’s Florida, one guy is using python skin.
Brian Wood, owner of All American Gator Products in Dania Beach, is crafting decorative mask coverings from the skin of the Burmese python, the infamous invasive species wreaking havoc on the native wilidlife of the Everglades.
Read the full story here.
Testing for home-bound coming in Miami-Dade
9 a.m.: The Tallahassee-based Disability Rights Florida and Miami-based Disability Independence Group are asking the mayors of both Miami-Dade and Broward to ensure that people with disabilities are given the same opportunities for testing that others have.
Myriam Marquez, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez, said Miami-Dade County should begin rolling out its plan for home testing on Monday.
Read the full story here.
Coronavirus and hurricane season
8:45 a.m.: Hurricane season starts on June 1, less than two months from now. Florida emergency managers are accustomed to planning for this. But as the state’s coronavirus outbreak lingers on, questions and uncertainties are nagging at the people preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Will a stretched-thin FEMA be ready to respond? What will shelters look like in the age of social distancing? And if shelters open ahead of a hurricane, will vulnerable people leave their homes?
Read the full story here.
Heat coach, wife make donations
8:30 a.m.: Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and wife Nikki Spoelstra donated more than 140 burrito bags from Lime Fresh Mexican Grill to firefighters, police, and military at three COVID-19 testing sites around Miami-Dade County.
Read the full story here.
Catch up to start the day
8:15 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Friday begins.
▪ Miami-Dade orders masks in grocery stores, restaurants to slow coronavirus spread
▪ CDC extends no-sail order for cruises until COVID-19 pandemic is declared over
▪ A Delray couple took the Ruby Princess cruise with friends. Now 6 of them have COVID-19
▪ How many Miami coronavirus cases are undetected? A pinprick of blood may offer answers
▪ Florida and Miami-Dade saw their deadliest day Thursday as total confirmed cases near 17,000 and deaths close in on 400.
▪ ‘Parks don’t kill people’: Stuck at home, residents plead for green spaces to reopen
▪ MIA’s Admirals Club is closed. American Airlines workers have turned it into mask factory
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on April 10."
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