Florida adds 6,118 cases; Dade’s positivity rate dips
Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday announced 6,118 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state also announced 126 new deaths. Of those who died, 120 were residents, pushing the resident death toll to 31,387.
A day after MiamiDade’s day-to-day positivity rate more than doubled to hit 10.07%, the rate was almost halved in the current report, to 5.68%. More tests were administered Wednesday in the county — 22,971 — compared to the previous day
The state has now recorded a known total of 1,930,232 coronavirus cases and 31,955 total deaths. Among those who died, 31,387 were residents and 568 were nonresidents.
On Thursday, the state reported the results of 114,481 residents tested on Wednesday. The state’s positivity for firsttime testers decreased from 6.82% to 5.37%.
In Florida, 1,815,999 have completed a two-dose accination series and 1,442,998 have received a first dose.
Miami-Dade County reported 1,245 new cases and eight deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 416,021 cases and 5,511 deaths. In Miami-Dade, 170,116 people have received the first vaccine dose and 195,154 people have completed the twodose series. Positivity
decreased from 10.07% to 5.68%.
Broward County
● added 771 cases and nine
deaths, moving its totals to 197,542 cases and 2,431 deaths. In Broward, 118,000 people have received the first vaccine dose and 161,600 have completed the series. Positivity decreased from 6.62% to 6.14%.
Palm Beach County
reported 574 new cases and eight deaths, bringing its cumulative count to 122,226 cases and 2,498 deaths. In Palm Beach, 111,475 people have received the first vaccine dose and 176,422 have completed the series. Positivity decreased from 6.41% to 6.03%.
Monroe County
added 26 new cases and no new deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are 5,937 cases and 46 deaths. In Monroe, 5,322 people have received the first vaccine dose and 7,138 have completed the series. Positivity increased from 4.46% to 5.62%.
As of 10 a.m. Thursday, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said there were 3,582 people hospitalized. Of these, Broward had 520; Palm Beach, 261; and Monroe, eight, the agency said.
According to MiamiDade’s New Normal Dashboard, county hospitals reported 620 COVID-19 patients, the same number as on Wednesday. There were 62 new patients, and 69 were discharged.
Legislation that would create publicly funded educational savings accounts to help families pay for private tuition and other expenses sailed through its final Florida Senate committee stop Thursday, reigniting a perennial debate over school choice.
“School choice is here to stay,” Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, said minutes after the wide-ranging measure, Senate Bill 48, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, could be heard by the full Senate as early as next week.
Simpson has cast the bill as a simple measure focused on “streamlining” the state’s five key schoolchoice programs. He said the changes would make it less confusing for parents to access and would benefit over 100,000 families who currently use the programs.
But the proposal does so much more.
Most notably, the 158page bill would change how the state funds school vouchers in the budget. It would create a whole new funding formula for them and would change the way families can use public funds for schooling outside traditional school districts. That includes private tuition, tutoring, laptops and other costs.
“Parents are the best advocates for their children, and now more than ever parents are seeking freedom from a one-sizefits-all system to look for resources and tools to uniquely tailor learning for their child’s individual needs,” Diaz said after the bill advanced on Thursday.
$7,400 IN EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Families who dip into educational savings accounts would have spending authority over roughly $7,400, Diaz said. The amount would vary by county, and would be based on the current state per-student funding level, he said.
As the Republican majority fast-tracks the measure, Democrats increasingly are concerned about how the new funding mechanisms might impact traditional public schools long-term.
State economists on Wednesday estimated taxpayers could be contributing about $6.6 billion toward school vouchers by the fifth year of implementation.
“If we infused our public schools with the money we’ve given to voucher schools, we could ensure every child gets the best public education possible,” said Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville. “It’s our duty to make sure everyone gets the best education possible… not choosing winners and losers.”
Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer, D-Lighthouse Point, had similar concerns during Thursday’s committee meeting.
“The way we are calculating this, I think, is doing a great disservice to our public schools,” he said. “It really is an unfair taking of money from our public schools and giving it to private schools.”
The Senate panel approved the measure along party lines after making some changes. One big difference was the creation of a state trust fund that will collect corporate donations and state funds that will pay for the school-voucher programs.
While the Senate proposal has sped through the chamber, there is still no companion bill in the House. That is not much of a concern for Diaz, who said he expects one to be filed soon.
“They haven’t rolled theirs out,” Diaz said in an interview. “But they’ve said they are going to roll out a bill. We just haven’t seen it yet.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a
staunch school-choice proponent, has not indicated whether he would support the Senate’s school choice plan. His $96.6 billion proposed 2021-22 state budget — which is advisory only — does not take the new proposed funding formula into account.
A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder after authorities say he ordered the killings of two people in 2017: a 30-yearold woman whose body was recovered in the Trinity River and a man whose remains were never found.
The Dallas Morning News obtained an internal memo from police Chief Eddie García, who told the department that Officer Bryan Riser, 36, was in custody.
He had not yet been booked in to the Dallas County jail Thursday afternoon, according to a Sheriff’s Department spokesman. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
“This officer’s actions not only tarnished the badge, but it hinders the efforts of those who go out every day to inspire the public confidence and create respect for the law enforcement profession,” García said.
Riser, who joined the department in August 2008, was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the department said.
“This individual has no business wearing this uniform,” García said, adding that the department was moving quickly toward Riser’s termination. “I can’t be clearer than that.”
Former Dallas police Chief U. Reneé Hall was aware of the allegations, first raised in 2019, and said Riser was a “person of interest” in the slayings, but a strategic decision was made, with the guidance of federal law enforcement, homicide detectives and the Dallas County district attorney’s office, to not place Riser on administrative leave so that authorities would not compromise the murder investigation. She said telling Riser he was under investigation could have given him a chance to cover his tracks.
Boaters found the body of 30-year-old Liza Saenz, a mother of two, south of downtown Dallas, after hearing several gunshots the night of March 10, 2017.
Six months later, in September 2017, three men — Kevin Kidd, Emmanuel Kilpatrick and Jermon Simmons — were arrested on capital murder charges in her death. Police said that an anonymous tipster led them to the suspects.
According to Riser’s arrest-warrant affidavit, one of the three men — police did not say which one — came forward in August 2019 and said that Riser was involved in Saenz’s slaying, as well as the death of 60-year-old Albert Douglas.
Sgt. Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, said Riser was placed on paid administrative leave pending a termination hearing. He said it was “devastating that a member of this Police Department would be charged with something as horrible as capital murder.”
According to records obtained by the Morning News, the Dallas Police Department’s internal affairs division has investigated Riser multiple times during his tenure over policy violations.