‘Difficult decision’ in developments

Brightline suspends service; couple stuck on cruise ship

Brightline, the high-speed rail system in South Florida, is shutting down, possibly for months, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Wednesday.

The final northbound departure from Miami departed at 5:50 p.m.

“Although a difficult decision, we have decided to temporarily suspend Brightline service in the best interest of the entire South Florida community as we all seek to flatten the curve,” said company president Patrick Goddard.

Brightline also says it is “taking proactive measures” to keep construction crews employed for a project to expand future service between West Palm Beach and Orlando.

“As we look ahead toward the economic recovery of Florida, projects like Brightline will help create jobs and a transportation network that will be more important than ever,” Goddard said in a statement.

Despite an order from the governor, travelers from the New York City area seemed to enter Florida on Wednesday with far less screening for the coronavirus than the governor suggested.

Also Wednesday, President Donald Trump declared there is a “major disaster” in Florida, two days after DeSantis requested that designation because of the public health emergency.

The action clears the way for federal funding to help all areas in the state that have been hit.

DeSantis cheered the president’s help, calling him “a heck of an ally for us, across the board.”

Despite pressure from federal lawmakers, the governor said Wednesday he won’t issue a statewide stay-home order.

Speaking at a news conference in Orlando, the governor defended the state’s response and said sheltering orders are more suited for the outbreak in southeastern areas.

“There’s certain parts of the state where you have more sporadic cases, and to order someone not to be able to earn a paycheck, when them going to work is not going to have any effect on what we’re doing with the virus, that is something that I think is inappropriate,” he said.

Still, an increasing number of places in South Florida are under stay-at-home order, including the city of Miami and Coral Gables.

There are exceptions, such as travel to and from grocery stores and pharmacies and for work.

Latest developments

A couple from Miramar is stuck on a Holland America cruise ship that’s being treated like a pariah because more than 70 aboard are sick. Speaking for the first time about their ordeal, they described in vivid detail how their vacation has become a nightmare at sea. What bothers them the most: Their own government might not let them come home.

More people are infected in Hollywood — on average — than anywhere else in South Florida. But what’s going on in Hollywood could be closer to the truth of what’s going on with the virus in the rest of the state. “It’s not that we have more cases,” Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said. “It’s that other places don’t know what they have.”

Palm Beach County government announced orders to close all city and county parks, along with all public and private golf courses, as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Racing continued at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday, with the horse track owners citing the need to care for the horses, and Hallandale Beach city officials exploring whether the park’s activities violate Broward County’s executive order to close nonessential businesses.

Univision staff vacated its Doral studio and broadcasted from outdoors because two employees tested positive for the new coronavirus.

All Publix stores are installing see-through plastic shields at checkout lanes, customer service counters, and pharmacies as part of the effort to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Whole Foods Markets confirmed Wednesday that another employee in their Fort Lauderdale location tested positive for the coronavirus.

On Sunday, the grocery store confirmed that an employee had tested positive and was under quarantine. Both employees are now in quarantine, and are being offered paid sick leave, say representatives for the company.

Gun sales are skyrocketing in South Florida amid the outbreak. Meanwhile, a gun range owner successfully challenged a shutdown order.

It’s not all gloom and doom for South Florida’s employment picture. There are some companies ready to hire new workers.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak and social-distancing demands, food delivery services are taking extra precautions to remain up and running.

By the numbers

The Department of Health’s Wednesday night update brought the state’s total documented coronavirus cases to 1,977 infections. That’s 510 more than Tuesday, the biggest increase over a single day so far.

Broward and Miami-Dade are the counties with the highest number of cases in Florida. Broward has 412 cases. MiamiDade has 491. Palm Beach County has 141.

There have been a total of 23 deaths attributed to the virus in the state.

Out of the 23 total deaths in the state, six have been reported in Broward and Palm Beach counties. None have been reported in Miami-Dade.

In the United States, there are over 64,700 confirmed cases, with at least 921 deaths. New York City has the most deaths of any area: 192.

There are over 464,000 confirmed cases worldwide in more than 100 countries and territories, with more than 20,900 deaths.

The number of documented cases in a given location is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the actual number of infected people.

In South Florida, a welldocumented testing bottleneck and the likely existence of widespread community transmission means that the number of infected persons may well be much higher than the total number of documented cases.

However, given the limited data, reliable estimates of the total number of infected persons in the state are not currently available as of Sunday, March 22.