Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 13
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.
EDUCATION LEADERS EYE WAYS TO REOPEN FLORIDA SCHOOLS
6:45 p.m.: Rapid and repeated coronavirus testing for students and staff, daily temperature checks and adjusting class sizes and bus rides to allow social distancing are among many measures that Florida education leaders are considering as the state prepares to reopen public schools in the fall.
As specifics continue to be ironed out, State Board of Education member Michael Olenick on Wednesday requested that Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran create a pandemic task force that would focus on the numerous changes that schools will need to make in the coming months.
“We have a new normal here, and that new normal will also require this task force to prepare for a very likely event that there is going to be a spike again in the fall,” Olenick told Corcoran during a State Board of Education meeting.
Read the full story here.
DESANTIS SAYS SPORTS ARE WELCOME IN FLORIDA
6:30 p.m.: If sports teams want to get back to playing in Florida, that’s just fine with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Republican governor said so at a news conference in Tallahassee, noting that several sports leagues have floated the idea of bringing teams to a centralized facility for games without fans because of COVID-19.
“If you have a team in a league in an area that just won’t operate, we’ll find a place for them here in Florida,” DeSantis said.
Read the full story here.
MIAMI-DADE RELEASES COLOR-CODED CORONAVIRUS PLAN
6:20 p.m.: As Miami-Dade’s mayor prepares to allow most businesses to reopen Monday, he unveiled a color-coded system designed to help the public track the county’s restrictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
For the moment, Miami-Dade sits in the “Orange Flag Phase,” the designation in the guide that allows parks, marinas and open spaces to be open “with facial covering requirements in place.” Gimenez said he plans to shift Miami-Dade to the “Yellow Flag Phase” on Monday, a category that allows the reopening of a broad list of businesses that includes restaurants, but under restrictions on capacity, spacing and sanitation measures.
Read the full story here.
KEYS SCHOOL EMPLOYEE TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS
4 p.m.: A Florida Keys school building was closed this week for deep-cleaning after an employee working there tested positive for COVID-19, school officials confirmed Wednesday.
Sugarloaf School, 255 Crane Blvd. on Sugarloaf Key, has been closed to students and parents since March 13 due to the pandemic. Instruction has continued online.
But several employees have been on campus to clean and distribute food.
Read the full story here.
MORE GOOD WORK FROM HEAT’S UDONIS HASLEM
3:40 p.m.: On Wednesday, the initiative dubbed “Power Forward Through Hunger” began when Heat forward Udonis Haslem, City of Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and Stock-Up Mart donated a week’s worth of groceries to 100 families in need during a drive-through event at Biscayne Park in Edgewater.
“It felt great,” Haslem said after passing out groceries Wednesday afternoon. “When The Players’ Tribune first came to me with the opportunity to write the letter, it was just an opportunity to speak from the heart and just be a voice for the people over the bridge. Now it has grown bigger than just being a voice for those people. It has grown into the city taking action, the city coming together.”
The City of Miami identified 100 families in District 2 who have recently lost their jobs and invited them to receive this first round of donations, which includes a week’s worth of fresh produce, pantry staples, and hot meals.
Read the full story here.
NORTH MIAMI OFFERING HELP FOR RENTERS AND BUSINESSES HURT BY COVID-19
2:50 p.m.: The North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (NMCRA) has approved a $1 million rent relief package and $600,000 for small business owners impacted by the coronavirus epidemic.
The renters’ relief program will cover two months of rent for qualified residents who live within the NMCRA boundaries. Applicants must have resided in the city for a minimum of one year, show proof they have lost their jobs or been otherwise impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, and provide their landlord’s information.
The NMCRA also added another $600,000 in relief money to their existing Emergency Relief to Jump Start Businesses fund. The one-time grant provides up to $5,000 for small business owners located within the NMCRA boundaries for future operational expenses such as payroll, utilities and rent.
Here are more details ...
HOLLYWOOD BROADWALK REOPENS, BUT NOT THE BEACH
1:25 p.m.: The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk reopened quietly Wednesday — without the beach.
Oh, you could see the sand and the glittering waves and the wind pushing around the palm trees. But access to the beach is still forbidden, and plenty of Hollywood police patrols strolled the 2.5-mile pathway to make sure nobody crossed the line.
The Broadwalk is open only from 6-9 a.m., and the primary enforcement rules seems to be this: No loitering.
Read the full story here.
CITY OF MIAMI PLANS TO REOPEN PARKS, BUSINESSES NEXT WEEK
1:15 p.m.: The city of Miami is coordinating a plan with Hialeah, Miami Beach, Doral and Miami Gardens to reopen certain businesses May 20, a few days after Miami-Dade County’s target date to restart a local economy that has been shuttered through the coronavirus pandemic.
Additionally, Miami’s marinas will reopen Thursday, and more than two dozen parks are expected to reopen May 20, according to multiple City Hall sources.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is also expected to announce plans to soon reopen a large swath of the city’s recreational spaces at a virtual press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Read the full story here.
THE LATEST ON FLORIDA’S BUDGET AMID THE PANDEMIC
1:10 p.m.: When they passed a $93.2 billion state budget in March, Florida lawmakers knew a growing global pandemic was going to blow a hole through the state’s finances.
Two months into the crisis, the extent of the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 related shutdowns is still unclear. This year’s budget, which runs through June, appears secure. But already lawmakers are bracing for a dramatic reduction to next year’s state budget, which begins July 1, and are debating whether they need to reconvene in Tallahassee for an emergency session.
“We’re going to be short billions and billions of dollars,” said Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa. “We’re not going to recover to current general revenue levels for a long time.”
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS
11:50 a.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday morning confirmed 479 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases to 42,402. There were also 48 new deaths announced, raising the statewide death toll to 1,827.
Read the full update on Florida’s case numbers here. The next update on Florida’s coronavirus numbers will come Thursday morning.
BEACHES WILL REMAIN CLOSED IN MIAMI BEACH UNTIL JUNE AT THE EARLIEST
10:40 a.m.: Beaches will remain closed in Miami Beach until June at the earliest, but the city announced Wednesday that 761 businesses can plan to reopen their doors next week.
City Manager Jimmy Morales said 602 retail stores, 141 barbershops and hair and nail salons, and 18 museums will be given a green light to reopen next Wednesday, two days after Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said he will reactivate sectors of the economy.
While the city has not received specific guidelines from the county, Morales said his proposed reopening guidelines will be consistent with what the county rolls out.
Read the full story here.
HOW ARE MIAMI-DADE BUSINESSES FARING? LEARN ABOUT RESULTS AT MAY 20 WEBINAR
10:25 a.m.: We asked Miami-Dade businesses how they are faring in these uncertain times, along with their predictions for the rest of 2020. More than 350 answered.
Topline results were published in this week’s Miami Herald’s Business Monday. To learn more and discuss the ramifications, we’re hosting a free webinar on May 20 at 10 a.m. Register at hrld.us/bizsentiment.
MIAMI METRO SEES BIGGEST DROP-OFF IN JOB POSTINGS IN U.S.
9:50 a.m.: How bad is the employment crisis in South Florida?
Data from jobs site Indeed shows new job postings in the past week in the Miami metro area fell 51.9 percent compared with the same week last year. That’s tops among all metros and well above the national average of 34.7 percent for the same time period.
Read the full story here.
MIAMI JAIL INMATES GET FREE VIDEO CALLS WITH FAMILY AMID PANDEMIC
9:40 a.m.: With Miami-Dade jails still off limits because of the coronavirus, relatives will soon be able to visit inmates behind bars via free video chats.
The county corrections department announced Tuesday that it will unveil a program that allows anyone, including defense lawyers, to schedule free 15-minute video chats with inmates. Reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis through this county-run website.
Visits will run 7 days a week, between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., and between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Each inmate gets one free video visit each week from friends or family, chats that are recorded and monitored.
Read the full story here.
COVID-19 SHUT DOWN SOUTH FLORIDA’S AIRBNBS. NOW WHAT?
9:20 a.m.: The weather has been postcard-perfect in South Florida the past few months; and yet, Paola Ugolini’s poolside cottage has been strangely vacant since the first week of March.
Ugolini rents the cottage in her Biscayne Park backyard through Airbnb, and has hosted close to 450 guests from 30 countries since joining the home-sharing platform in 2014. Her cottage, known for its tropical art and quaint homey touches, is one of the top wish-listed Florida properties, according to Airbnb.
She typically rents it for $100 per night and relies on that income to subsidize her private Italian catering business. But these days, the short-term vacation rental market is reeling from the COVID-19-related tourism halt, and Ugolini is in a pinch.
South Florida Airbnb hosts have been particularly hard-hit. According to a 2019 study by financial advisory firm IPX 1031, Miami Beach is the per capita leader of Airbnb in the entire United States, with 3,416 listings per 50,000 people. Miami was No. 6 with 1,034 listings, Fort Lauderdale ranked No. 8 with 1,016 and Hollywood was No. 10 with 984.
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 Wednesday begins.
▪ Florida coronavirus cases surge to nearly 42,000 as Miami-Dade death toll passes 500
▪ Under coronavirus rules, traffic is way down, but speeding is way, WAY up
▪ Alarmed by COVID-19 outbreaks, Miami-Dade considers sick pay for nursing home workers
▪ Key West protesters say the highway checkpoints must go so the economy can come back
▪ Cruise lines finally repatriating workers stranded by COVID-19. Not everyone is happy
▪ Universal will partially reopen CityWalk, first step toward reopening its theme parks
▪ Heat to reopen practice facility starting on Wednesday. What will player workouts look like?
▪ Tropical Financial Credit Union reopens lobbies, major banks still under reduced hours
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 13."
