Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 2
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.
Keys nursing home staff, residents being tested for COVID-19
4:15 p.m.: A “strike team” of government health professionals began testing all staff at a Florida Keys nursing home Saturday morning for the novel coronavirus after one employee tested positive and tests are pending on two women who died there this week who officials say may have had the disease.
The state Department of Health also sent a “Rapid Emergency Support Team” to the facility to train staff there how to provide clinical care for patients who contract COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, an email sent Saturday from the State Emergency Operations Center stated.
It’s not immediately clear if other patients at the facility have shown COVID-19 symptoms.
Read the full story here.
Newly reopened marina shuts down
12:30 p.m.: Hundreds of cars and trucks trailing boats that were lined up heading into Blackpoint Marina Saturday morning, some since dawn, were turned around because the marina reached capacity before noon.
People started camping out on the road Friday night around 10 for a chance to be among the first to be let into the marina when it opened at 6 a.m. to launch their boat after not being able to for the past six weeks. Marinas were among the list of public spaces closed by Miami-Dade County because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
But many didn’t get the chance. The county-operated marina’s parking lot was full by around 10 a.m., said Miami-Dade police officers staffing a roadblock.
Read the update here.
Florida confirmed coronavirus cases top 35,000
12:15 p.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday morning confirmed 735 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases over the 35,000 mark.
Saturday’s daily total of 35,463 brings the number of newly confirmed cases back under 1,000, which had been a weeklong trend until Friday’s report topped out at 1,038.
Read the full story here.
Hotels to cut back touch points amid COVID-19
11:20 a.m.: When hotels reopen, they won’t look or operate the same as they did pre-COVID-19. The virus has led most properties to adopt new practices aimed at reducing touch points and minimizing human contact.
Don’t be surprised if you have to check in behind a plexiglass partition, like the ones being used at supermarkets. The front-desk staff will be wearing face coverings. Some hotels – such as those in the Hilton and Marriott chains – will encourage guests to avoid the front desk altogether and do virtual check-in, which allows them to use their cell phones as room keys.
Forget about breakfast buffets, lobby coffee stations, plates of free cookies, and concierge Happy Hour buffets. Mini-bars may be a luxury of the past. Even pads of paper and pens may be removed from rooms. Pool chairs will be spaced out. Hotel restaurants, bars and meeting rooms will reconfigure their seating charts. Floor decals will remind guests what a 6-foot distance looks like.
Read the full story here.
Hundreds line up at Miami-Dade marina
10:30 a.m.: Hundreds of cars and trucks trailering boats lined up on Southwest 248th Street heading into Blackpoint Marina Saturday morning.
In fact, people started camping out on the road Friday night around 10 p.m. for a chance to be among the first to be let into the marina to launch their boat after not being able to for the past six weeks. Marinas were among the list of public spaces closed by Miami-Dade County because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday the county opened its marinas and parks, which saw steady crowds, but nothing like those on Friday when Blackpoint became so overwhelmed with people trying to launch their boats from one of its four ramps that the marina had to close hours after opening
Read the full story here.
How Miami-Dade plans to reopen in a pandemic
9 a.m.: Miami-Dade residents might soon be able to dine out or visit a hotel when local authorities begin an expected gradual lifting of business lockdown orders. But when they go out, they’ll encounter a drastically altered leisure landscape.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday he expects to finalize plans next week for a phased reopening of businesses, including offices and cultural facilities, though he provided no details on timetables or what rules he’s contemplating to limit the further spread of infection from the novel coronavirus.
But draft rules for the reopening of restaurants and hotels obtained by the Miami Herald show that likely regulations will encompass social-distancing practices, widespread use of masks and plexiglass sneeze shields that echo those already being deployed by groceries and drugstores. These, however, will be significantly intensified.
Read the full story here.
Immigration lawyers move to close ICE loophole
8:50 a.m.: Immigration advocates, fresh from a victory Thursday in which a federal judge ordered immigration authorities to release some detainees at three South Florida detention centers, moved Friday to try to close what they say may be a loophole in the ruling.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke issued a scathing 12-page order saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must report to the court how it plans to release detainees from the Krome Processing Center in Miami-Dade, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and the Glades County detention center in Moore Haven.
What the order didn’t address: Whether ICE, rather than release detainees, could simply move them to other detention centers to relieve crowding that the judge said amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full story here.
A cruise ship doctor dies
8:45 a.m.: A doctor who had been treating crew members with respiratory illnesses died on board the Norwegian Gem on Thursday.
According to an email from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ chief medical officer Dr. Carlos Gonzalez obtained by the Miami Herald, Dr. Alex Guevara died in his sleep from “cardio-respiratory arrest.”
Read the full story here.
Catch up to start the day
8:30 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Saturday begins.
▪ Masks at gyms, manis with plexiglass. How businesses will reopen amid coronavirus
▪ Calls to test and house Miami’s homeless grow louder during coronavirus pandemic
▪ Miami Beach rejects beach-opening plan, but new COVID testing site gives leaders hope
▪ New coronavirus drive-thru testing clinic opening in Bal Harbour Village
▪ Royal Caribbean falsely blames CDC for keeping crew trapped on its ships, agency says
▪ Statewide coronavirus cases push past 34,700 as South Florida death toll hits 751
This story was originally published May 2, 2020 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 2."
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