DeSantis: Drug stores will test

Pharmacists around the state will be able to start swabbing people for the new coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday.

Enabling residents to get tested for COVID-19 at pharmacies “would make this much easier,” he said of continuing efforts to expand screening for infections.

The details still need to be sorted out, but the governor said drug stores would be able to order and administer tests. He said the idea is that if people think they’ve been exposed to someone with the disease they can easily go to a neighborhood pharmacy.

“We want those people to go in and get tested,” DeSantis said at a Tallahassee news conference.

More than 133,500 people in South Florida have been tested for the new coronavirus so far, with the percentage of infections continuing to exceed the statewide average, state data released Friday shows.

There have been 320,984 people swabbed across the state since the outbreak began, with 9.5%, or 30,533 people, having positive results.

DeSantis said he was pleased that more than 21,000 people were tested on Thursday, the highest total on any day so far. The state reported that about 1,300 people tested positive, which is about 6%, which the governor said was a favorable rate compared to other states such as Georgia.

Experts say the actual number of infections to date in Florida and elsewhere is higher, because not everyone who has had COVID-19 has been tested for it.

Some 1,046 dead, 30,533 people with infections. Florida in Friday night released data showing that 604 people have died from COVID-19 in the major South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward

and Palm Beach, according to the Department of Health. That’s an increase of 33 deaths in the three counties from Thursday night.

In Miami-Dade County, the epicenter for the state’s outbreak, there have been 287 deaths and 10,926 people with infections.

Statewide, 1,046 people have died and 30,533 individuals have tested positive so far. About 4,800 people have been treated in hospitals.

The coronavirus death toll in the United States is 51,017, including more than 16,600 victims in the national epicenter, New York City. The country’s total number of cases was 890,524 on Friday evening.

Worldwide, the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center reported 2.8 million cases and 195,920 deaths.

More Florida beaches set to reopen. Indian River County announced Friday that it will re-open its beaches on Tuesday, April 28.

Running, walking, swimming and other water and exercise activities will be permitted as long as people adhere to social distancing guidelines. County staff will be on site to ensure that beachgoers are in groups of 10 or fewer and are maintaining a 6-foot distance from non-family members, the county said in a release.

Certain items will be prohibited on the shore for the time being, the county said. Items not allowed for now include blankets, chairs, coolers, beach umbrellas and tents.

Florida Keys will stay closed to visitors through May. Monroe County is unlikely to reopen to tourists next month “because of the continued threat of COVID-19,” officials announced Friday.

The county says it will consider removing “protective measures” when there are no new cases of the new coronavirus “or a steady downward trend in the Florida Keys for at least two weeks.”

No specific dates have been announced. At first, the county plans to reopen outdoor recreational facilities and non-essential businesses for residents only. A final phase of getting back to normal will be removing checkpoints and reopening hotels.

As of Friday evening, Monroe County has had 77 people test positive for infections and three deaths, state data shows.

Trump signs $484 billion stimulus bill to aid employers and hospitals. The stimulus bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have had to close or dramatically alter their operations as states try to slow the spread of the virus. The measure passed Congress almost unanimously Thursday as lawmakers gathered in Washington as a group for the first time since March 27.

Florida’s unemployment website will be down for 3 days as state tries to make payments faster. Florida’s unemployment website went offline Friday and will be down until 8 a..m. Monday, the state Department of Economic Opportunity announced. It’s the longest shutdown of the system so far as the state tries to catch up with payments for jobless Floridians.

One in 6 US workers have lost jobs since coronavirus hit. The number of people filing for unemployment in Florida ballooned by more than 500,000 people last week, almost three times as many as the week before. More than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as job cuts escalated across an economy that remains all but shut down, the government said Thursday.

Pandemic shopping: Where to find bargains when you’re avoiding grocery stores. Check out some ways South Florida shoppers are finding other outlets for food.

Call it a pandemic skillset. From fixing drinks to sewing. With people cooped up in their homes and many businesses closed, folks are finding ways to adapt to this unprecedented situation.

Some domestic violence victims go silent during quarantine, but help is available. The quiet phones at some South Florida police agencies and shelters for the abused may be hiding a complex reality behind closed doors: domestic violence aggravated by the coronavirus lockdown.

Don’t inject disinfectants, Lysol warns as Trump raises idea. The parent company of Lysol and another disinfectant warned Friday that its products should not be used as an internal treatment for the coronavirus after President Donald Trump wondered about the prospect during a White House briefing.

Virtual tours? A buyers’ market later? How coronavirus is affecting South Florida real estate. While much of the world is on hold due to the stay-athome orders and quarantine recommendations that accompany the COVID-19 outbreak, the real estate market in South Florida keeps moving. It’s just moving slower.

Sheriff’s Office says accusations about Broward County jail are unsubstantiated, misleading and false. Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s general counsel is emphatically denying allegations from the county public defender that jail inmates are being mistreated and concerns about the coronavirus are being ignored.

Death estimates increase slightly for both the U.S. and Florida, according to new model. The latest projections from an everchanging coronavirus model have pushed its expected deaths in Florida as well as the nation slightly higher.

Summer camps are open for registration in Florida, but the future is uncertain. Registration is underway for dozens of camps throughout South Florida, despite the uncertainty of whether any will take place.

Visual essay: Making peace with the emptiness. We are a people who understand hurricanes. A storm ravages us. Then it passes. Then we creep out of our hiding places, assess the damage, and move on. This is different. All around us, everything feels empty.