Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 31
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.
FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS
3 p.m.: Florida’s Department of Health announced Sunday there have been 56,163 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,451 deaths from the virus in the state.
Read the full update on Florida’s case numbers here. The next update on Florida’s coronavirus numbers will come Monday morning.
MIAMI-DADE BEACHES WON’T OPEN JUNE 1 AS PLANNED
1:20 p.m.: Miami-Dade will not allow beaches to reopen as planned Monday, Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Sunday after a night of vandalism, theft and damaged storefronts in downtown Miami.
The planned June 1 reopening of the coast in South Beach and beyond was designed to be the kick-off to reviving the county’s tourism industry and give residents back a favorite diversion after 10 weeks of closure under COVID-19 orders.
Gimenez said Sunday he would keep beaches closed until a countywide curfew is lifted.
Read the full story here.
COVID-19 DEATHS KEEP PILING UP IN NURSING HOMES
10 a.m.: Over the past week, elders living in long-term care facilities accounted for seven-in-10 Florida deaths resulting from the coronavirus, as the pandemic increasingly became a scourge of the old and frail.
Though the cumulative overall number of deaths attributed to COVID-19, the illness caused by exposure to the coronavirus, doubled this month, coronavirus deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities tripled. As of Saturday, 1,228 people at long-term care facilities had died from COVID-19.
Read the full story here.
DID THE ROADBLOCKS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS WORK?
9:50 a.m.: At 12:01 a.m. Monday, checkpoints set up on the two roads heading into the Florida Keys are coming down after more than two months.
They were put up to keep tourists from entering the island chain in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. With the relatively low numbers of positive cases of COVID-19 — the illness caused by the novel coronavirus — it appears they served their purpose.
“It’s been very effective in keeping the community safe, but the time has come,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a Facebook address to the community.
Read the full story here.
WHAT CAN CRUISE COMPANIES DO TO PROTECT PASSENGERS AND CREW FROM COVID-19?
9:40 a.m.: The world’s four largest cruise companies plan to hit the high seas later this summer. For Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, that means August 1. MSC Cruises plans to relaunch even sooner — mid-July.
But none of the companies has announced how it will protect passengers and crew from COVID-19 before a vaccine becomes available, at least a year from now. To date, the infectious disease has been confirmed in more than 3,000 passengers and crew and at least 82 deaths across 63 cruise ships, according to a Miami Herald investigation.
Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company with nine brands and 104 ships, is still working on its procedures, said spokesperson Roger Frizzell.
“It is still early in the process and our brands have not yet finalized our future protocol for when the ships will return to cruising following our pause,” he said via email. “We will be working closely with the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization] as well as other health and medical experts from around the world as part of the process.”
Read the full story here, with insight from doctors.
UNEMPLOYED FLORIDIANS STILL WAITING FOR BENEFITS
9:25 a.m.: Over the past month, the Herald/Times interviewed 40 Floridians who have struggled to receive benefits during the pandemic. Reporters spent hours on the phone with them, viewed screenshots of their claims and sent their names, phone numbers and claimant ID numbers to the Department of Economic Opportunity to verify if they were eligible.
Of the 40 people, half have started to receive payments, department spokeswoman Tiffany Vause said in a Friday statement. The rest are in the “review process” for state or federal benefits, Vause said.
“The 40 claimants you [sent] are just 40 of the more than 16,000 names that were submitted to [the agency],” Vause said. “The team is working diligently to serve Floridians who contact the agency through the proper channels.”
Read the full story here.
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 Sunday begins.
▪ Florida sees more than 925 new coronavirus cases as Miami-Dade’s death toll hits 700
▪ Amid Miami protests, fireworks for COVID-19 responders still on, despite county pleas
▪ Beaches, hotels and pools reopening as Miami-Dade tries to get its tourism back
▪ Masks, Plexiglas — and comfort: Miami-Dade hotels prepare to reopen in the coronavirus era
▪ Miami condo pools can reopen Monday. Virginia Key, public pools will follow June 8
▪ ‘A lot of confusion.’ Sunbathers flock to Broward beaches on first open weekend
▪ Here’s what you need to know about using the bathroom as South Florida beaches reopen
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 9:11 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 31."
