Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on June 2
We’re keeping track of the latest news regarding the coronavirus in South Florida and around the state. Check back for updates throughout the day.
JUDGE ASKS ICE TO ALLOW DETAINEES TO TESTIFY VIRTUALLY
6:09 p.m.: A Miami federal court judge asked United States immigration officials Tuesday to “work out” a way for three South Florida detainees to testify virtually from behind bars.
“This virtual world is pretty good,” said U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke during a virtual hearing via Zoom, the program many courts are using to keep cases active. “We’ve been able to do a lot of things that even I have been reluctant to do in the past... See if you can work something out.”
Read the full story here.
HOTELS LAY OFF MORE STAFF DESPITE REOPENING
6:02 p.m.: A day after hotels in Miami-Dade County were allowed to reopen, a major hotel in Miami Beach is laying off hundreds of employees.
Loews Hotels, which runs the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, announced 579 employees will have their “temporary layoff” period extended at least sixth months and 144 others will be permanently laid off.
The company which owns the Delano South Beach, meanwhile, said this weekend it is laying off 191 employees. Last month, the Conrad Miami also announced it was laying off at least 154 employees at least six months because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story here.
BARS, RESTAURANTS URGE DESANTIS TO ALLOW REOPENING
5:54 p.m.: Local elected officials are pressuring Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow bars and nightclubs reopen as owners desperately watch from the sideline while Florida continues the first phase of reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor’s office, however, isn’t giving any indication they’ll be allowed to reopen soon.
“Gov. DeSantis is reviewing these requests as he considers the launch of Phase II of reopening Florida,” DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferre said in an email Monday.
Establishments which make more than 50 percent of their revenue from alcohol sales aren’t allowed to open until the state reaches Phase II of its reopening plan.
Read the full story here.
5:35 p.m.: The Miami Hurricanes are making progress to having their football team back in Coral Gables in preparation for the still-on-schedule 2020 season.
Coach Manny Diaz said Tuesday about two-thirds of his roster is back in South Florida to participate in voluntary workouts. On Tuesday, the team also was able to have players work out on campus at Greentree Practice Fields for the first time.
The university has still not set a date for players to resume small group workouts in the weight room and other indoor facilities. Athletes rehabilitating from injuries, however, have been able to go inside facilities to receive one-on-one attention since last month.
Read the full story here.
HAVE QUESTIONS FOR A COVID-19 EXPERT? LET US KNOW
5 p.m.: On Thursday, the Miami Herald will host a live video chat with Erin N. Kobetz, a professor medicine at the University of Miami Health System. Kobetz is an expert on COVID-19 antibody testing.
Have questions for Kobetz. Let us know.
Read the full story here.
PARENTS STARE DOWN CHILD-CARE CHALLENGES
4:07 p.m.: As Florida progresses in returning to some semblance of normalcy amid COVID-19, parents are beginning to face down a new challenge: Who will take care of their children once they’re back at work?
Schools are staying online through the end of the school year. Some summer camps are planning to be virtual this summer. Children won’t be out of the home like they have been in past years.
There are a couple of options for parents, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which grants employees at least two weeks of sick leave if they can prove they’re unable to find child care.
Read the full story here.
HOW WILL COVID-19 AFFECT HURRICANE EVACUATIONS?
2:06 p.m.: With the earliest third named tropical storm on record forming in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, the likelihood of the COVID-19 crisis coinciding with a hurricane scare seems increasingly likely at some point in the next few weeks or months.
One of the major concerns is how willing Floridians will be to evacuate. In a new survey by the American Automobile Association, 42 percent of respondents said fear of the coronavirus makes them less likely to evacuate.
Read the full story here.
BEACHES COULD STAY CLOSED THROUGH THE WEEKEND
1:16 p.m.: Miami-Dade County police director Freddy Ramirez said Tuesday he wants to keep a curfew intact through the weekend because of the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. If the curfew stays intact, beaches in the county likely won’t open until next week.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez delayed openings of county beaches, which were planned for Monday, and he previously said beaches would not reopen until the curfew is lifted. The current curfew requires almost everyone to stay off streets and sidewalks after 9 p.m. People walking their dogs can travel within 250 feet of their homes, and most people going back and forth from work are exempt from the curfew.
“Around the country, things are very heated,” Ramirez told county commissioners. “That’s why I feel we should continue with the curfew through the weekend so we can have consistency. In case that any of these splinter groups try to start something in our community.”
Said Gimenez: “This is not over yet.”
Read the full story here.
THE LATEST ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S POSSIBLE RETURN
12:16 p.m.: A new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, the Miami Herald’s Miami Hurricanes podcast, is out with a COVID-19 slant.
After a discussion about the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd, the Herald’s Miami beat writers explain why there’s some optimism about college football season going on somewhat as planned.
Read the full story here.
FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS
11:27 a.m.: Florida has 617 more positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total of known cases past 57,000. The daily total announced Tuesday is the lowest since Wednesday, when the state announced just 379 confirmed cases.
In Miami-Dade County, there are 85 new cases and 20 new deaths. In Broward County, there are 52 new cases. More than half the new cases are in South Florida.
Read the full story here.
COVID-19 Cases in Florida
WHY ARE PEOPLE PAINTING ROCKS IN SOUTH FLORIDA?
10 a.m.: Mysterious artists have been painting rocks and leaving them at homes in Fort Lauderdale, trying to spread a message of unity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some rocks, which people pass by on their walks, have words such as “believe,” “strong,” and “beauty” painted on them. Others have paintings of animals or smiley faces. It’s all part of the national Kindness Rock Project, which started in Massachusetts and has now found its way all the way down to South Florida.
Read the full story here.
FEW HOTELS REOPEN MONDAY
9:30 a.m.: Although Miami-Dade County allowed hotels to reopen Monday, not many did. A few stalwarts — including the InterContinental Miami, Loews Miami Beach Hotel, the Miami Biltmore Hotel and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, which hosted boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. as one of its first guests — did open back up, however, with a new set of rules. Furniture in hotel lobbies was rearranged to encourage social distancing, visitors had their temperatures checked upon check-in, and capacity was limited, although there wasn’t a huge demand anyway.
“Reopening is a thoughtful process,” said Wendy Kallergis, president of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotels Association. “It’s quiet right now. It’s going to be a slow process, but even though we won’t have any fireworks, July will give us a better sense of where things stand with the virus. For now, travel is going to consist of drive-in visitors and staycations. We’re going to go back to the 1990s, before we had such a strong international tourism. Hopefully by the fall, we’ll be able to start getting domestic meetings back into the hotels.”
Read the full story here.
CATCH UP TO START THE DAY
9 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Monday begins.
▪ Florida has 379 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the state’s lowest single-day total since Wednesday.
▪ Gov. Ron DeSantis extended a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures another 30 days just hours before it was set to expire.
▪ Hotels reopened Monday in Miami-Dade County with a new set of rules.
▪ A virtual “waiting room” for those awaiting unemployment assistance is frustrating users.
▪ The Florida Keys pulled down a series of checkpoints separating the island chain from the rest of the state as the Keys try to open back up.
▪ While there wasn’t a huge rush down to the tourist hot spot, traffic was steady on the way down to the Keys.
▪ At a Miami Dolphins charity event, Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Gimenez said he’s confident football will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in the fall.
▪ Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Association, meanwhile, are at odds after the MLSPA made a counteroffer on the league’s return-to-play plan.
▪ South Florida weighs hurricane response amid the coronavirus pandemic.
