Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on April 28
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.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION EVENT AT MARLINS PARK ON WEDNESDAY
5:55 p.m.: The City of Miami is partnering with the Miami Marlins for a food distribution event on Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. at the East Lot of Marlins Park. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo will be joining the event where Farm Share and World Red Eye will be contributing, as well.
SOUTH FLORIDA ALDI STORES DEALING WITH CORONAVIRUS CASES
5:45 p.m.: Aldi says three South Florida locations have had four confirmed coronavirus cases.
Of the 53 Aldi locations in South Florida, two in Miami-Dade County and one in Palm Beach County have had employees test positive, according to the company.
Aldi reported cases at these stores:
▪ One confirmed case at 15033 S. Dixie Hwy. in Palmetto Bay
▪ One confirmed case at 3403 S. Congress Ave. in Palm Springs
▪ Two confirmed cases at 8621 Coral Way in West Miami-Dade
Read the full story here.
IS THERE ENOUGH TESTING IN FLORIDA?
5:15 p.m.: As Florida moves closer to returning some businesses back to work next week, healthcare operators and public health experts are raising doubts about claims by Gov. Ron DeSantis that the state has enough testing capacity to meet the need to keep people safe.
“Our ability to test exceeds the current demand,’’ the governor boasted at a White House briefing with President Trump on Tuesday, where he brought charts and photos of Florida’s drive-through testing sites.
But hospitals say they continue to be constrained by supply shortages for testing components such as kits and chemical reagents needed to run the tests. Nursing homes and elder-care facilities continue to complain that they don’t have the access to COVID-19 tests needed to diagnose staff and residents. And both the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advance guidelines that don’t allow everyone who wants a test to get one.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR CONSULTS TRUMP BEFORE ANNOUNCEMENT ON STATE REOPENING
5 p.m.: President Donald Trump has said throughout the coronavirus pandemic that the governor in his home state of Florida has made the toughest decisions about how to run the state on his own, even though the two have spoken regularly ahead of big announcements.
But before starting to lift a prolonged, government-mandated shutdown in Florida — a statewide stay-at-home order is expiring Thursday at midnight — Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled Tuesday to Washington to meet face-to-face with his state’s most powerful resident.
“I’ve worked with the White House on kind of going to Phase One. I’m going to make an announcement tomorrow,” DeSantis told reporters in the Oval Office. “But I think, for Florida, going from where we are now to Phase One is not a very big leap.”
Read the full story here.
MIAMI FAMILY HIT HARD BY THE CORONAVIRUS
3:55 p.m.: As Miami-Dade County officials roll out the opening of parks, marinas, and golf courses in the state’s epicenter for the novel coronavirus, the devastation of a Nicaraguan-American family is a reminder that sickness and death are still very real.
“People need to hear this,” Marcela Lastre says of the tragedy her family is mourning.
They’re preparing not one, but three funerals.
Read the full story here.
WHERE DOES FLORIDA RANK IN SOCIAL DISTANCING?
3:40 p.m.: Since mid-March, Floridians have been staying home and limiting travel at a higher rate than in 34 of the country’s 50 states, but residents are starting to grow weary of staying at home, according to a University of Maryland study that uses cellphone data and other information to track movement.
Florida ranked 16th highest out of the 50 states in the university’s “social distancing index,” from March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a worldwide pandemic, until April 25, the most recent date for which data is available.
Read the full story here.
SOCIAL DISTANCING HAS BECOME A CHALLENGE FOR THE BLIND
2:35 p.m.: Imagine you are blind or have compromised vision. How do you manage to navigate public spaces under the coronavirus restrictions?
“As a totally blind CEO, I like to shake hands and even hug because it gives me feedback which every sighted person gets without touching. Is this person tall, short, fat, skinny, with sweaty hands, large hands, petite hands? The touch of the person also gives me a sense of direction, as to where to look when talking to that person. With social distancing, this tactile information is lost,” said Virginia Jacko, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind’s chief executive officer.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S UNEMPLOYMENT WEBSITE TO UNDERGO NIGHTLY MAINTENANCE
1:25 p.m.: According to the News Service of Florida, Florida’s unemployment website will be unavailable for all but new claims each night as the system undergoes maintenance and the state works on a backlog of claims because of the coronavirus, the Department of Economic Opportunity said Tuesday.
“DEO will be conducting nightly maintenance to the CONNECT (online unemployment) system to process claims and payments faster,” a news release from the department said. “CONNECT will be available from 8 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. daily. This schedule does not affect individuals that wish to file a new claim.”
MIAMI-DADE TRANSIT UNION ESCALATES DEMAND FOR PROTECTIVE GEAR, VEHICLE CLEANING
12:50 p.m.: Miami-Dade’s transit union on Tuesday escalated its demand for more protective gear and vehicle cleaning by having billboard trucks trail buses with the message: “Enter At Your Own Risk.”
The Transportation Workers Union is targeting transit director Alice Bravo in the campaign as well. Nearly two weeks ago it named her in a lawsuit that asks a Circuit Court judge to order Miami-Dade to increase sanitizing of buses and trains and provide operators the same protective gear issued police officers and paramedics.
Miami-Dade has been rationing cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for drivers, with some bus operators issued one Clorox wipe per day to clean their wheel and seat.
Read the full story here.
MAY RENT IS DUE SOON, AND THE CORONAVIRUS IS MAKING THINGS DIFFICULT
12:30 p.m.: Statistics show that the majority of the 55,000 South Florida renters who were already living paycheck to paycheck when the coronavirus outbreak took their jobs managed to pay at least a portion of their April rent.
But as the next due date of May 1 approaches, and the state’s overloaded unemployment system struggles to keep up with snowballing demand for help, renters and their landlords are bracing for another round of financial scrambling.
“In April, we achieved a 93 percent collection rate,” said Enrique Teran, co-founder of Avanti Way Realty and CEO of Propfolio Management, which manages two million square feet of residential properties around South Florida for private landlords. “Granted, some people used credit cards to pay, and others were only able to pay a percentage of their rent.”
But Teran said that May will bring a whole new set of complications, especially for renters who were barely able to scrape by in April.
Read the full story here.
MIAMI BEACH TO OPEN PARKS AND MARINAS
12:20 p.m.: Miami Beach will follow Miami-Dade County and reopen most parks and all marinas on Wednesday with some exceptions: No basketball, no restrooms at parks, parking for residents only but anyone can come to the park.
According to Miami Beach’s park order, facial coverings must be worn on the beachwalk and baywalk, except by children under the age of 2, persons who have trouble breathing due to a chronic pre-existing condition, or persons engaged in strenuous physical activity or exercise.
FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS
12 p.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday morning confirmed 708 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total of confirmed cases to 32,846. There were 83 new deaths announced — the highest reported on a single day — bringing the statewide death toll to 1,171.
Miami-Dade County (11,831 confirmed COVID-19 cases) and Broward County (4,847 confirmed COVID-19 cases) combine to make up 50.8 percent of Florida’s confirmed case total.
Read the full update on Florida’s case numbers here. The state cut back to once-a-day updates Saturday, so the next update on Florida’s coronavirus numbers will come Wednesday morning.
MIAMI EXPANDS TESTING AT CHARLES HADLEY PARK
10:50 a.m.: Miami’s city government announced Tuesday morning that it would expand the criteria for COVID-19 testing at Charles Hadley Park in Liberty City, 1350 NW 50th St, Miami, FL 33142. Now, any city resident age 18 and up can make an appointment to get a swab test, whether or not they are experiencing any symptoms associated with the coronavirus.
Testing begins daily at 9 a.m. and is available by appointment only. Interested residents must call 305-960-5050.
THE HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD’S TAKE ON REOPENING SOUTH FLORIDA
10:30 a.m.: Ready or not, the race to reopen South Florida has begun. As always, it’s the “or not” part that must be of most concern. And from Miami to Key West, elected officials disagree on what the pace of easing restrictions should be. But we must get it right.
Read the rest of what the Miami Herald’s Editorial Board had to say here.
FLORIDA’S JOBLESS BENEFITS PROGRAM STILL HAS ISSUES
9:45 a.m.: Floridians by the thousands will try again today to seek jobless benefits through the state’s cratering CONNECT system, which malfunctioned Monday despite being offline over the weekend for upgrades. Many who applied for unemployment benefits in March continue waiting, and some are just now receiving notices without explanation that they are ineligible.
Read the full story here.
STRUGGLING TO FEED YOUR PETS? READ THIS
9:25 a.m.: Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department wants to help pet owners who are struggling to keep food in their cat or dog’s bowl because of the coronavirus pandemic.
From 8 to 11 a.m. (or until supplies run out) Thursday, the department will hold its second drive-through Pet Food Bank at the Pet Adoption and Protection Center, 3599 NW 79 Ave. in Doral.
Here are more details.
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.
▪ Florida coronavirus cases push past 32,000. Death toll increases to 1,088
▪ Miami-Dade is reopening parks, marinas, golf courses this week — but Miami is waiting
▪ Under pressure, Florida releases list of nursing homes, ALFs with most, least COVID-19
▪ Coral Gables residents clamored for COVID-19 testing. A site will open Friday
▪ Florida promised an unemployment site for gig workers. It’s still not open
▪ Smith: Demand remains for staging luxury homes in South Florida, despite pandemic
▪ Should you let workers into your home to fix the toilet, WiFi or A/C during quarantine?
▪ Key West reopens beaches to locals after a six-week shutdown during coronavirus crisis
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on April 28."
