Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on August 4
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.
MLS tournament bubble is working: 9,235 tests since July 12, zero positives
6 p.m.: The MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando heads into the semifinals Wednesday and Thursday with its bubble intact.
After Nashville SC and FC Dallas were sent home in early July due to virus outbreaks, the MLS tournament bubble has been a success. Since July 12, a total of 9,235 COVID-19 tests have been conducted on players, coaches and staff, and there has not been a single positive result.
Philadelphia Union plays the Portland Timbers in Wednesday’s semifinal and Orlando City plays Minnesota United on Thursday.
Read the full story here.
Is it time to allow visitors in Florida nursing homes? DeSantis restarts conversation
4 p.m.: For months, Floridians have been forbidden to visit their relatives at long-term care facilities.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday that it’s time for that to change, even as the state continues to report thousands of new coronavirus cases per day along with hundreds of deaths and hospitalizations.
“I think a lot of the family members understand that these are difficult circumstances. Clearly they would not want policies to be done that would lead to massive amounts of people in these facilities getting infected. But I think that if you have a way forward, I think that would put a lot of people at ease, knowing that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” DeSantis said at a discussion about the coronavirus in Jacksonville.
Read the full story here.
With COVID-19 surging and ICU beds scarce, Bahamas goes into total lockdown
1:25 p.m.: Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced Monday a complete lockdown of the country for the next two weeks, saying the bed capacity and human resources were being “increasingly stretched” amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
“Our ICU beds are at capacity and non-critical care beds are approaching capacity,” Minnis said during a national address about the economic shutdown of the archipelago, just days after being spared by Hurricane Isaias. “We can and we will rebuild our economy and our society. But what we cannot do is bring people’s life back. We can rebuild, but we cannot recreate new life.”
Read the full story here.
‘Forced labor’: Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line crew say they’ve been working without pay
1 p.m.: As cruise companies begin to operate passenger cruises again, thousands of crew members remain trapped on ships without pay as they wait to be sent home.
For crew on Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s Grand Celebration ship in Palm Beach, the delay has been especially grim. Cleaners and cooks have been working since mid-March without pay, according to two crew members and a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court Tuesday. The suit accuses the company of engaging in “forced labor,” among other claims.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Cruise companies have been staying afloat since mid-March when the industry shut down by raising private capital and cutting staff and other costs.
Read the full story here.
New COVID-19 cases in Florida drops to fewer than 8,000 for third straight day
11:40 a.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 5,446 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s known total to 497,330. There were also 245 Florida resident deaths announced, bringing the statewide resident death toll to 7,402.
Tuesday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the third consecutive day Florida has reported fewer than 8,000 new cases.
Two new non-resident deaths in the state were also announced, bringing the non-resident toll to 124.
Since test results take at least several days to process, it’s still unclear if the past few days of lower totals were affected by the state-run testing site closures caused by Tropical Storm Isaias.
Read the full story here.
The politics of CARES Act relief in Miami: Which government gets to give it away?
10:20 a.m.: Miami elected leaders are taking the fight over federal COVID-19 relief funds into the political arena by accusing Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez of using most of $474 million in CARES Act money to boost his profile with voters during his congressional campaign.
Miami commissioners argued that City Hall should be the steward of at least 90 million of those dollars, stoking the flames of a debate raging across Miami-Dade’s local governments: Who gets to give away hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief in an economy ravaged by the coronavirus — and who gets to reap the political benefits?
“I want to know if this is a political grab bag so that Mayor Gimenez can direct funds to help people that he wants to help,” said Commissioner Joe Carollo, once a close enough ally to Gimenez that he was on the payroll for the county mayor’s 2016 reelection campaign.
Read the full story here.
‘We have to find a balance.’ COVID curfew expires in Broward, remains in Miami-Dade.
10 a.m.: With the state reporting its lowest daily total of newly confirmed cases in over a month, Broward allowed it’s curfew to expire at 5 a.m. Monday.
“We are going to watch to see what happens with testing to see if we stay level,” said Broward Mayor Dale Holness. “We have to find a balance with restricting people’s rights to movement and controlling this virus.”
Last week, the county’s administrator, Bertha Henry, extended the curfew — which was instituted on July 17 — until Monday.
Read the full story here.
One hour apart, Florida corrections officer, his wife die of COVID-19
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9:25 a.m.: Jackson Correctional Institution officer Robert “Wayne” Rogers is remembered by colleagues as a 30-year veteran officer who served with honor throughout his career. Those who loved him remember Rogers as a hard worker who cherished time spent with his family and riding his motorcycle with Lauri Rogers, his wife of 30 years.
Rogers, 65, is the first state prison officer to have died of COVID-19, the deadly respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, a disease raging through the Florida prison system.
Rogers and his wife, 61, both contracted COVID-19 earlier last month, and were sent home to quarantine after a July 12 trip to the emergency room. Their health declined and they were both admitted to the hospital July 18.
They died within an hour of each other on July 30 at Southeast Health, a hospital near the Florida border in Dothan, Alabama, close to where they’d lived.
Read the full story here.
CATCH UP TO START THE DAY
9:20 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Tuesday begins.
▪ Two more teens have died from COVID-19 related complications in Florida, data show
▪ To cut down turnaround time, two Miami sites to offer 15-minute COVID tests
▪ Florida’s known coronavirus total rises past 491,000 as state adds 4,752 cases
▪ Officer in Miami-Dade’s jail system dies of COVID as county tries to contain spread
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 9:24 AM with the headline "Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on August 4."
