Religious services are exempt, but clerics say stay home
TALLAHASSEE
The archbishop of the largest Catholic archdiocese in Florida has told parishioners there will be no services during Holy Week. Leaders in Orthodox Jewish communities across the state have pleaded with their communities to not allow relatives to travel to Florida for Passover. The pastor of a Hillsborough County mega-church who was arrested for holding services last weekend in violation of a local stay-athome order has decided to stay home — for now.
Despite that, Gov. Ron DeSantis made the executive decision to allow religious groups to gather. The decision has drawn criticism from some and created dilemmas for others who believe in the healing power of shared worship but worry that closeness will breed harm from the novel coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes, COVID-19.
“It is not prudent for parishes to plan any activity that would encourage people to leave their homes,” wrote Archbishop Thomas
Wenski, the leader of the Miami diocese, in a statement that was delivered to his priests Wednesday morning.
He ordered them not to conduct any drive-by confessions, no palm pickups in front of church for Palm Sunday, no confession or Holy Communion and no in-person Masses on Easter Sunday.
Unlike the archbishop, however, DeSantis refrained from discouraging congregations from gathering and instead simply said that if they gather they should do it in a way that allows the faithful to keep their distance.
“The goal is to reduce contacts with people out
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order but said he was prevented from including churches. Many church leaders say they had already told their congregations to stay home.
comes — would affect sectors across the entire economy.”
Florida’s latest figure is a jump of 152,687 claims week on week. But that figure is likely still shy of the true number of those seeking to file claims as the state’s unemployment compensation system remains beset by sluggishness.
On Thursday, the head of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Ken Lawson, apologized for the state’s slow response.
Since getting laid off from her sales job two weeks ago, Fort Lauderdale resident Lisa McGoldrick said she has been trying to apply for benefits on the state’s site — without success.
“At this point, I cannot even enter my Social Security number,” McGoldrick said in an email. “I have checked [that] my
Internet carrier speed is good. I have tried many search engines. The phone number they give you never answers or just automatically disconnects. I am beyond Frustrated. I try all hours day, night, and early mornings, like
2-3 am.”
The state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification site, which is supposed to track layoffs of firms with 100 or more employees, shows only a 4,225 pink slips in the state for the entire month of March — a figure far lower than reality in a state with hundreds of thousands of hospitality workers, most of whom have lost their jobs.
This week, the data firm STR reported that Miami-Dade hotel occupancy has dropped by almost 78% from the same period in 2019. The region’s worst decline was in Monroe County, where just 7.2% of the hotel rooms were occupied in contrast to 92.1% the same week last year. The Keys officially was closed to visitors on
March 22.
The number of jobless is also surely to rise next in light of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to shut down the state for a month.
“Florida’s jump of 152,687 in weekly unemployment insurance claims (205%) from last week is just the beginning,” said Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank. “I fear that Florida will be among the most impacted in the coming weeks. The state was late in issuing stricter orders on social distancing. Thousands of more claims are on the way in the state.”
Florida is not scheduled to release its unemployment rate for March for another several weeks. Only that number will capture those who have been unemployed since before the crisis and unable to find work. Sandy Piqué, an accountant in Pinecrest, counts himself among this group, which he calls “The Forgotten Ones.”
Until new rules were put in place as a result of the crisis, Piqué could not even claim state unemployment because his last job was under a 1099 independent-worker contract. Now that he is able to apply, he must contend with the rush of newly unemployed trying to log in to the site.
He also says his family situation might leave him outside of those able to capitalize on the federal CARES Act. He supports three children over the age of 17 — the age cut off for households with children eligible to receive $500 checks in addition to $1,200 checks for individuals who have work histories.
“n my position, I am facing the very real possibility of being foreclosed on my home, having my cars repossessed, my credit ruined, and seeing everything I have worked for disappear in a few short weeks,” he said in an email.
Rob Wile: 305-376-3203, rjwile