Some counties are mandating a 24-hour wait between bookings, while others are requiring “sufficient” or “adequate” time for cleaning and disinfecting.
Florida
Expect Gas Prices Again to Top $2 A Gallon as Tanks Fill and Tankers Cruise
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Florida is $1.90, up 2 cents from last week and 14 cents from a month ago, and at the highest level in nine weeks.
206,000 Unemployment Claims Filed in Florida Last Week, On Eve of Phase 2 Reopening
Phase 2 reopening includes allowing bars, movie theaters and other entertainment venues to partially operate in all but three South Florida counties.
Teachers Union Offers Proposal for Reopening Schools With Several Changes
Widespread testing of students, staff and visitors for the virus, adjustments to class sizes and student transportation, changes to the school calendar, promoting hybrid instruction and pushing to hire more school counselors and psychologists to help students’ social and emotional well-being are among the proposal.
As Hurricane Season Begins on Top of Pandemic, Flagler Prepares for Battle on Two Fronts
Flagler County’s emergency and public health officials are preparing for an unprecedented battle on two fronts, with reconfigured shelters and rules but the same stress on compliance with evacuation orders if and when they’re issued, regardless of Covid-19 fears.
Protests Rage and Reactions Abound Over Killing of George Floyd, But DeSantis Maintains Silence
In Miami, squad cars were damaged and police fired tear gas at a crowd of protesters. In Tallahassee, the driver of a pickup truck plowed through a street packed with demonstrators, just blocks from the state Capitol building.
County Elections Supervisors Ordered to Comply With Order Enabling Felons to Vote
The state’s elections director advised county supervisors of elections to be in line with a federal court decision overturning major parts of a 2019 law requiring felons to pay fines, fees, costs and restitution associated with their convictions to be eligible to vote.
Florida’s Government Revenue Takes a Nearly $1 Billion Hit in April
State revenue was off $878.1 million in April from an earlier estimate as tourism and hospitality-related industries, along with car sales, were grounded by the coronavirus, according to economists.
Commissioner Nikki Fried Says DeSantis Is Leaving Cabinet ‘In the Dark’ During Pandemic
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried asserted Thursday the governor and state Cabinet members should have been jointly coordinating the response to the coronavirus pandemic, as a new report showed another 173,731 first-time unemployment claims were filed last week in Florida.
Child Vaccination Rate Drops Sharply, Worrying Pediatricians of Public Health Consequences
While a growing number of people are refusing to vaccinate their children in Florida, Some attributed the precipitous drop to the cancellation of pediatrician appointments during the pandemic.
DeSantis Picks Jamaican-American Renatha Francis and Cuban-American John Couriel for Supreme Court
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday appointed John Couriel and Renatha Francis to the Florida Supreme Court, choosing two justices expected to cement the court’s conservative majority for years to come.
Florida Colleges and Universities Wrestling With When and How to Reopen
Some of the questions gnawing at school leaders are: Who will need to be tested for the virus? Will temperature checks be required before entering classrooms? What will student housing look like? What restrictions will at-risk students and faculty face? What’s the plan for people who get sick mid-semester?
Summer Camps and Youth Athletics May Resume in Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday said he is lifting coronavirus-related restrictions on youth activities, including summer camps and athletic events, because he trusts parents and local governments will make the right decisions.
Flagler County’s Unemployment Vaults to 15.4%, 6th Worst in Florida, With Record 7,000 Jobless
In April, the number of jobless Flagler County residents was at 6,795, a number never seen in Flagler’s or Palm Coast’s history. The figure is an undercount: many more have filed for unemployment since, according to weekly initial claims.
Worrisome Growth of Covid-19 Related Illnesses in Children, Including 12 in Jacksonville Area
Florida has a growing number of children with a Covid-19 related illness, but how long it has been attacking children and the number of pediatric patients who have been treated remains a mystery.
Problems Persist for Florida’s Unemployed, Who Are Told to Expect Long Waits on Claims
Florida has scrambled to bring on more computer servers, set up a backup system for people to apply and allowed people to submit claims on paper applications.
Food Drops Are Not Enough. Expand Food Stamps Programs Now.
Big food drops like Palm Coast’s effort to feed 5,000 families are fine, but only an expanded SNAP (or food stamps) program can reach all families in need with an existing system that also acts as an economic stimulus for local business.
“Immune to Evidence”: How Dangerous Coronavirus Conspiracies Spread
Conspiratorial videos and websites about COVID-19 are going viral. Here’s how one of the authors of “The Conspiracy Theory Handbook” says you can fight back. One big takeaway: Focus your efforts on people who can hear evidence and think rationally.
Gyms Reopen Monday at 50% Capacity, Restaurants and Shops Expand to 50%, Theaters Remain Dark
Gov. Ron DeSantis today announced what he described as a “full Phase 1” reopening of society and the economy even as the state recorded more than 40 deaths from Covid-19 for the fourth straight day, and an average of 600 daily infections in the past two weeks.
DeSantis Signals Restaurant Seating Capacity Will Expand and Gyms Will Reopen
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will announce Friday additional “phase one” measures to reopen the state’s economy, with the moves expected to include allowing more people to be seated in restaurants and allowing gyms to operate.
Florida as Sports Hub: DeSantis Wants Professional and Youth Teams to Resume Playing in State
The Washington Post reported that Major League Soccer is looking to house players in large resorts near Disney World as a way for games to resume for all 26 teams in Orlando.
Florida Adds Covid-19 Into Its Hurricane Preparations
Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said last week his agency is redeveloping plans about evacuations and shelters, while also adding facemasks to the state’s stockpile of storm supplies.
Palm Coast’s Grand Oaks Rehab Rejects Health Department’s Testing of Patients and Staff, Then Relents
After its corporate office overrode local resistance, Grand Oaks Rehab in Palm Coast agreed to have its 100 patients and 100 staff members tested for Covid-19 next week. The Flagler Health Department’s strike teams conducted 200 tests today at two other large nursing home facilities.
Flagler Health Officials Pledge to Keep Up Covid Testing as AdventHealth Phases Out Drive-Up Sites
There is some confusion about how much testing should take place–2 percent of the population per month or overall–and whether it will be available to the extent recommended as society reopens. The guideline from the federal government of testing 2 percent is a monthly goal, not an overall goal.
Florida’s Universities Weigh What May Be an Altered Reopening This Fall, With Emphasis on Remote Classes
FSU Provost Sally E. McRorie told faculty members in an email that it is likely the school will only offer in-person courses that cannot be done remotely. Many universities are considering keeping at least some instruction online.
DeSantis Is Right on Cautious Reopening, Wrong on Models
Gov. Ron DeSantis took a wisely cautious approach on reopening, but his caution contrasted with his ridicule of models that predicted grim outcomes for Florida in March. His criticism reflects a simplistic misunderstanding of models’ purpose, especially when they have their intended effect: to minimize loss of life.
Florida Supreme Court Weighs Wording of Recreational Marijuana Ballot Proposal
An attorney for Make It Legal Florida, said the proposal “piggybacks” on a system resulting from a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana in the state. Lawmakers and groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce trying to block the measure.
Flagler’s Covid-19 Deaths Rise to 4 But New Positive Cases Slow as Broader-Criteria Testing Increases
Flagler’s deaths add to a statewide tally approaching 1,500 as one of the models most closely watched by state and federal officials revised significantly upward its estimate of deaths for Florida now that the state has begun reopening.
‘Like Someone Went to Class and Didn’t Come Back’: Florida Universities Contend With Students’ Belongings
Universities across the state will allow students to have items delivered to them or return to campus at a safe time to pick up belongings. Some universities are even preparing to dispose of unwanted items at the students’ request.
More than a Fifth of Americans Unemployed as 1st Time Claims Keep Surging and Checks Keep Lagging
The total number of first-time claims filed in Florida since the start of the coronavirus emergency totals 1.6 million in a civilian labor force of 10.5 million, placing the state’s unemployment rate at over 15 percent.
County Elections Supervisors Describe Struggles With Felons’ Voting Law and Lack of Reliable Data
The state lacks a single database where felons, lawyers or elections officials can determine whether people have outstanding court-ordered financial obligations. Florida’s new but restrictive felon-voting law is the subject of a nationally watched trial this week.
Reality Check: What Antibody Studies Can Tell You — and More Importantly, What They Can’t
Coronavirus antibody studies and what they allegedly show have triggered fierce debates, further confusing public understanding, especially about fallacies about herd immunity. Here is some clarity and fact-checking around these crucial surveys.
FPL Customers’ Bills Will Drop 24% in May, Resulting from Lower Fuel Costs
The savings stem from lower-than-expected costs for natural gas to fuel power plants. Utilities are required to pass along savings to customers when fuel costs drop, but the money typically goes to customers gradually.
2 Staffers at 2 Assisted Living Facilites in Palm Coast Test Positive as Local Covid Cases Rise; Antibody Tests On the Way
Flagler’s Covid-19 cases now total 127, two of them at assisted living facilities, as local officials caution against a too-swift relaxation of precautions or too high hopes on antibody testing on its way. The testing will be focused on health workers.
Rumor Control is Critical and Time-Consuming for States, With No Help From Trump or His Likes
In addition to battling the coronavirus, states and localities are spending time and increased effort batting down rumors and myths — everything from President Donald Trump’s suggestion last week that injecting poisonous disinfectants might help to rumors that National Guard troops are enforcing stay-at-home orders at gunpoint.
Confirmed Flagler Covid-19 Increase By 28 in One Day, to 106, But Local Hospitalizations Still ‘Stable’
Flagler County added 28 confirmed Covid-19 cases in a single day today, by far the largest single-day tally of new cases, for a total of 106. But there does not appear to be an equivalent increase in hospitalizations.
Florida Jobless Claims Nearly Triple to Over Half a Million in a Week, U.S. Unemployment Over 16%
More than one in 10 new jobless claims–505,137 first-time applications of the 4.4 million new claims–across the United States last week were made to Florida’s overwhelmed unemployment system.
“We’re Not Opening Up The County,” Commission Chairman Cautions as Beaches Partially Reopen
The Flagler County Commission and Flagler Beach reopened their beaches partially starting Wednesday, but officials’ cautions against a premature, broader reopening are not all on the same page.
Consumer Confidence and Businesses Aggressively Implementing Safety Measures Will be Key to Rebound
Getting people to dine out, board airplanes and visit resorts will require increased confidence that businesses are aggressively implementing enhanced hygiene measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19, members of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ task force on reopening the state said Tuesday.
American Carnage: How Donald Trump Is Killing Us
The coronavirus has mutated into ideological variants. We are moving from a natural disaster to a man-made one, from statistically unavoidable deaths to deaths willed by indifference, ignorance, selfishness, and the political calculations of a single man. The consequences will compound rather than mitigate the pandemic.
Florida Task Force Looks for Answers on Reviving Economy and Making Testing More Widespread
The push to get businesses back open comes as public-health experts have warned social distancing restrictions should not be lifted until the numbers of new infections have slowed or stopped and there is widespread immunity.
Covid-19 Advice: 7 Lessons America’s Governors Should Not Ignore as They Reopen Economies
We spoke to frontline experts from around the globe and have compiled a list of recommendations for reopening U.S. states. Their consensus? It’s tough to find policies that simultaneously save lives and livelihoods.
113 Prisoners Test Positive for Covid-19, 47 of them at Volusia’s Tomoka Correctional
Along with the 113 inmates, 80 corrections workers had tested positive for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Four inmates had also died, all at Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa County.
County Falsely Claims Testing Increased ‘Significantly,’ But Positive Cases Have, to 75–And County Must Send Back 650 Junk Test Kits
Flagler County government issued false and misleading figures Friday regarding a surge in testing that never took place, and 650 kits that could have enabled a surge must be sent back because they’re flawed, officials now say.
Caving to Pressure, Flagler Beach and the County Plan to Reopen Beaches on Limited Basis Next Week
After sustaining intense pressure from residents and from county officials, and with beaches reopened to the north and south, Flagler Beach plans to re-open its beach on a limited basis starting Monday morning, as would the county.
Florida Infections Spike to Near Peak Again, Flagler Cases at 52; St. Johns Reopens Beaches Partially
Flagler County Covid-19 cases are expected to spike a little because of increased testing; AdventHealth Palm Coast’s ICU capacity at 28 percent and total capacity at 30 percent. Flagler County government defends its decision to open some trails as St. Johns opens its beaches for four hours a day, with limited use.
Only 4% of Florida’s Unemployed Have Received Checks Since Losing Their Jobs
The state’s benefit checks of $275 a week remain among the stingiest in the nation. Separately, 23,801 checks have gone out to people who have qualified for federal money under a new federal stimulus law. The federal payments go up to $600 a week.
Covid-19 Peak Pushed Back to May 3; In Flagler, 47 Are Tested at Drive-Up Site and 400 Households Get Food Aid
More details about the first Covid-19 infection affecting a Flagler staffer at a nursing home as the county begins drive-up testing, officials warn relaxing distancing measures, and Palm Coast launches its Rise-Up Palm Coast initiative.
Spike in People Dying at Home Suggests Coronavirus Deaths Are Considerably Higher Than Reported
Coronavirus death counts are based on positive tests and driven by hospital deaths. But data from major metropolitan areas shows a spike in at-home deaths, prompting one expert to say current numbers were just “the tip of the iceberg.”
Get Used To It: Distancing and Masks Are ‘New Normal’ for Coming Year
Florida residents might be social distancing and wearing facemasks for a year because of COVID-19, the state’s top public health officer said Monday.