No Florida fun: Bars, beaches closed
Also, LA’S mayor says city reopened too fast
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As coronavirus cases skyrocket, daily life is looking very different in the Sunshine State, where many popular beaches are shuttered, residents and tourists can be fined for not wearing masks, and bars across the state aren’t allowed to pour liquor to toast the carefree days of summer.
The state Department of Health on Sunday reported 12,478 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 87 more deaths. Overall, there have been nearly 350,047 cases, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths.
Florida recently closed bars again because customers weren’t wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Miami-dade County again recently prohibited restaurants from having indoor seating and Broward County, home to Fort Lauderdale, announced a two-week curfew Friday that bans most people from being outside from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and an order limiting private gatherings, indoor or outdoor, to no more than 10 people.
“It’s a near guarantee it’s going to get worse unless we do something very dramatic to flatten the curve because we’re heading into flu season,” said Dr. Dena Grayson, an infectious disease researcher and former Florida Democratic congressional candidate.
In developments elsewhere:
Mayor Eric Garcetti conceded Sunday that Los Angeles reopened too quickly and again warned that the city was “on the brink” of new shutdown orders as the coronavirus continues to surge in California.
Appearing on CNN, Garcetti was asked about a Los Angeles Times editorial that criticized the rapid reopening of California.
“I do agree those things happened too quickly,” Garcetti said, adding that the decisions were made at the state and county levels, not by city officials.
A small college in southern Michigan defied warnings from state public health officials by hosting an in-person graduation ceremony.
Hillsdale College held graduation Saturday evening, capping days of celebrations, according to The Detroit News.
The college of about 1,500 students had expected more than 2,000 people at the event, though school officials declined to discuss actual attendance numbers.
Arizona health officials on Sunday reported 31 additional deaths from the coronavirus, a day after reporting a daily record of 147 deaths that officials attributed to the inclusion of information gathered from a review of death certificates.
The virus death toll in Arizona stands at 2,761 as of Sunday, according to Department of Health Services data. There have been 143,624 confirmed cases statewide as of Sunday, up more than 2,300 from the day before.
Most of the 85 young children in a South Texas county who are known to have contracted the coronavirus tested positive this month amid a surge in the state, a health official said Sunday.
Nearly all of the children, most of whom are 1 year old or younger, are expected to recover on their own. One of the children died, but officials are still trying to determine if COVID-19 was the cause.