Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 7
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.
NEW WALK-UP TESTING SITE IN MIAMI BEACH
7:50 p.m.: When the site at the corner of 17th Street and Convention Center Drive in South Beach opens to the public on Friday, it will be the first state-run testing center in Florida to offer both walk-up and drive-thru testing, according to the Florida National Guard, which is operating the center with the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The site, which is open to anyone regardless of residence, will be open seven days a week and offer up to 400 tests per day, with the flexibility to offer more tests. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. No appointments are needed, and anyone older than 18 years old or children accompanied by a guardian can be tested for free. A photo ID is required.
Read the full story here.
MIAMI-DADE WANTS COVID-19 REPORTS FROM NURSING HOMES
5:20 p.m.: Dissatisfied with the reliability of the coronavirus information being released by the state, Miami-Dade’s mayor is ordering nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to disclose COVID-19 cases and deaths from residents and employees in an attempt to produce data the state has been reluctant to release.
An emergency order signed Wednesday by Mayor Carlos Gimenez instructs residential health facilities to disclose the data when asked by Miami-Dade. The county plans to require daily reports.
Read the full story here.
MIAMI-DADE RECEIVED FEWER RELIEF DOLLARS DESPITE HIGHER COVID-19 INFECTION RATES
5 p.m.: Miami-Dade County received a smaller share of federal healthcare funds to fight the coronavirus than other major metro areas in the state despite having a higher rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths, according to data compiled by the Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade’s share of $30 billion in healthcare funds, part of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress in March, was distributed based on the county’s share of Medicare fee-for-service reimbursements. But that funding formula, from the Department of Health and Human Services, meant less money for areas like Miami-Dade, where a higher portion of the population relies on a private-plan version of Medicare called Medicare Advantage.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS
4:20 p.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 826 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state closer to 39,000 confirmed cases. The state has a total of 38,828.
There were also 61 new deaths announced, raising the statewide death toll to 1,600.
More than half of the new cases and deaths were in South Florida.
Read the full update on Florida’s case numbers here. The next update on Florida’s coronavirus numbers will come Friday morning.
CORONAVIRUS DEATHS DOUBLE AT STATE VA NURSING HOME IN SOUTH FLORIDA
2:55 p.m.: The death toll from COVID-19 has more than doubled at a Florida VA nursing home in Pembroke Pines, where the coronavirus outbreak has hit elderly military veterans hard since mid-March.
All seven of the coronavirus victims who died at the Alexander Nininger Jr. VA nursing home were veterans in their 80s and 90s and suffered from other chronic ailments in addition to the dangerous respiratory disease, a state Veterans’ Affairs spokesman said Thursday. Four of them died in the past two weeks.
While the outbreak set off alarms at the facility that about 100 veterans call home, universal testing, quarantine measures and protective equipment have slowed the coronavirus spread.
Read the full story here.
HOW SHOULD KEY WEST START WELCOMING CRUISE SHIPS MOVING FORWARD?
1:40 p.m.: Key West no longer needs so many cruise ships docking almost daily at the island’s three ports, a group of local activists say.
The newly formed political action committee called Key West Committee for Safer, Clean Ships is urging the city to be wary of the industry to preserve its residents’ health as well as their pocketbooks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S COVID-19 TESTING POLICY FOR RESIDENTS OF ELDER HOMES IN QUESTION
12:30 p.m.: For weeks, COVID-19-related deaths and positive cases have been on the rise at nursing homes and elder-care facilities across the state even though those same facilities have been off-limits to visitors since March 15 because of the governor’s executive order. The latest death toll: 577, one in three of all deaths in Florida.
There is little mystery behind what is considered the main culprit in this grim statistic: asymptomatic carriers — many of them long-term care staff members, who are getting tested infrequently or too late. But despite state efforts to ramp up testing, administrators at nursing homes and assisted living facilities told the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times it is a piecemeal program that is failing to identify risk and completely contain the virus among the state’s most vulnerable.
Read the full story here.
VIZCAYA IS REOPENING ITS GARDENS WITH RESTRICTIONS
12:25 p.m.: After shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens plans to welcome visitors starting May 10 as part of the Miami-Dade County emergency order that permits the opening of county parks, marinas and golf courses.
Only the 10-acre outdoor gardens will be open; all indoor spaces, including the Main House, will be closed. And all guests and staff are required to wear face coverings and must keep six feet from other visitors and staff.
Read more details here.
THE HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD’S TAKE
10:10 a.m.: The numbers are looking good in Florida as it works to reduce new cases of the coronavirus in the state. Good, yes, but they still don’t add up. And that’s a problem.
Gov. DeSantis still refuses to release full and complete information about the Floridians who have died from COVID-19, including their names.
Check out the rest of what the Miami Herald Editorial Board had to say here.
MIAMI-DADE DECIDING WHETHER TRANSIT GUARDS NEED SICK PAY AMID PANDEMIC
10 a.m.: Miami-Dade’s fight over extending paid sick leave to county contractors happens to fall in the middle of a global pandemic that’s shut down much of the economy over fears more people will catch a virus at work.
The timing is helping fuel the campaign to change county law and require sick leave for employees of private companies providing security guards at Miami International Airport and Miami-Dade’s transit system, along with workers for contractors across county government.
Opponents call it a financial burden for companies using government dollars to pay workers. They say the extra costs will end up costing jobs along with forcing Miami-Dade to pay more to run its airport, operate buses and trains and provide other services at a time of economic turmoil.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA SAW 173,000 NEW UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS LAST WEEK
9:35 a.m.: Floridians filed 173,000 new jobless claims last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported—a major decline from the prior week’s total, though likely a reflection of ongoing dysfunction in the state’s unemployment filing system.
The latest figure is down nearly 260,000 from last week’s nation-topping figure of 433,000. The DOL data lag behind Florida’s own unemployment scorecard, which as of May 5 showed 1.1 million unique claims filed since the onset of the pandemic.
Read the full story here.
CATCH UP TO START THE DAY
9:15 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Thursday begins.
▪ Florida coronavirus cases hit 38,000 as death toll climbs past 1,500
▪ ‘We need to get back to a new normal.’ Miami-Dade mayor alludes to reopening plans
▪ Mayor expects Dolphins, Canes games with small crowds or no crowds barring breakthrough
▪ DeSantis announces new COVID-19 antibody testing, mask sanitizing and a lab on wheels
▪ Contact tracing can help reduce coronavirus infections. How much is Florida doing?
▪ FDLE releases list of COVID-19 deaths. Top medical examiner calls it a sham
▪ ‘There is no pandemic’: Miami Beach staff encounter hostility over face-mask rules
▪ Hollywood Beach Broadwalk will soon reopen with restrictions in place
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 7."
