Coronavirus live updates: Here’s what to know in South Florida on May 14

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.

WHAT WILL THE RECOVERY FOR MIAMI TOURISM LOOK LIKE?

5:50 p.m.: South Florida’s tourism leaders expect the industry to trickle back slowly over the coming months as the area relaxes COVID-19 restrictions. But they don’t expect anything resembling normalcy before Art Basel makes its annual appearance in early December.

That was the message Thursday at the State of the Tourism Industry Forum, a virtual meeting held by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“These are unprecedented times,” Scott Berman, tourism and hospitality industry analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said during the webinar. “This community has taken every punch over the past three decades. Storms, 9/11, recession, Zika...How does this stack up? You can roll all those crises into one and still not reach the historic metrics we are seeing across the globe when it comes to travel, tourism and hospitality.”

Read the full story here.

PRO SPORTS RETURNING TO SOUTH FLORIDA IN JUNE WITH NASCAR

5:20 p.m.: NASCAR will be running a series of races next month at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The speedway will host four races June 13 and 14, culminating with Dixie Vodka 400 on June 14. Homestead-Miami Speedway will also host a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race June 13, and two NASCAR Xfinity Series races June 13 and 14.

The races will be held without any fans in attendance in Homestead.

NASCAR announced its plans in a press release Thursday as it prepares to return to action Sunday after a more than two-month hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story here.

HALLANDALE BEACH CLOSING TRAFFIC LANE TO GIVE PEDESTRIANS MORE SPACE

4:20 p.m.: Beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, Hallandale Beach will shut a northbound lane of AIA to vehicles. The closure will last through the weekend and be done every weekend until further notice. Southbound traffic will not be affected by the closure.

The closure, the city says, will give pedestrians more room to stay six feet away from another person to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

BROWARD CITIES WANT TO REOPEN BEACHES AFTER MEMORIAL DAY

4 p.m.: The mayors of coastal cities in Broward County are pushing for a May 26 reopening of beaches for exercise. But county officials seem reluctant to jump ahead of Miami-Dade, whose mayor has not yet indicated he’s willing to take that step.

“If we open one section and the others are not open, then we’ll have a problem,” Broward County Mayor Dale Holness said, referring to concerns that South Florida residents could all flock to whichever beaches open first.

Read the full story here.

CARNIVAL CORP. ANNOUNCES FLORIDA LAYOFFS AND FURLOUGHS

3:30 p.m.: Carnival Corp. announced Thursday a series of layoffs and furloughs that will affect more than 1,300 workers at its Florida offices amid the COVID-19 crisis.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the world’s largest cruise company announced 820 positions in Florida would be eliminated out of a workforce of roughly 3,000 employees, with another 537 Florida employees placed on furlough. Furloughed employees would potentially return once cruising resumes.

Read the full story here.

FLORIDA GOV. ALLOWS MIAMI-DADE, BROWARD TO REOPEN BUSINESSES MONDAY

1:10 p.m.: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed off on plans for Miami-Dade and Broward counties to reopen restaurants and other businesses deemed non-essential on Monday, the governor announced Thursday at a press conference in Doral.

“Miami-Dade and Broward have both submitted plans that I’ve approved,” DeSantis said. “Today we take another important step for a very important part of the state of Florida.”

Read the full story here.

PUBLIX EXTENDS HOURS AS BUSINESSES START TO REOPEN

1 p.m.: Publix announced it will extend its hours and eliminate reserved shopping time for seniors and first responders.

The new hours will be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, beginning Saturday. That’s an hour earlier and an hour later than the current hours. The pharmacy will return to regular operating hours.

Read the full story here.

WYCLEF AND OTHER HAITIAN MUSICIANS UNITE FOR VIRTUAL CONCERT

12:40 p.m.: The Haitian-American Alliance COVID-19 Concert will be live streamed from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, the day before Haiti Flag Day, on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the Haitian Times, and its YouTube channel.

Artists will be performing from their home base, which in this case includes South Florida, New Jersey and Port-au-Prince. The line-up stars Grammy winner Wyclef Jean, along with konpa bands, Klass, NuLook and Harmonik. There’s also Belo, Darline Desca, Ram, Paul Beaubrun, Vayb and Buyu Ambroise Jazz ensemble. They represent racine, jazz, twoubadou, folk and other genres.

Read the full story here.

FLORIDA’S UPDATED CASE NUMBERS

12:20 p.m.: Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday morning confirmed 808 additional cases of COVID-19, pushing the state’s total of confirmed cases past 43,000. The state now has a total of 43,210 known cases.

There were also 48 new deaths announced for the second day in a row, raising the statewide death toll to 1,875.

Read the full update on Florida’s case numbers here. The next update on Florida’s coronavirus numbers will come Friday morning.

MIAMI TRAFFIC COURT IS BACK AMID PANDEMIC

10 a.m.: After nearly two months of suspension because of the coronavirus, Miami-Dade traffic court resumes Monday as authorities debut hearings on Zoom.

It’s a soft launch. The first few weeks of hearings will be attended by lawyers representing motorists, most of them facing possible fines and drivers-license points for tickets given before the pandemic largely shuttered courthouses in late March.

But within a few weeks, court officials are hoping that motorists without lawyers will be able to represent themselves via video, and even go to trial through Zoom if they want.

Read the full story here.

MEET MIAMI’S ESSENTIAL WORKERS

9:40 a.m.: Some South Florida residents are preparing to head back to their jobs after nearly two months of strict shutdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but these essential workers never stopped. Many did not have the luxury to adhere to the “stay at home” decree because they couldn’t afford to do so, or because their jobs didn’t allow for it.

We counted on them to continue risking their own health to serve our needs. Here’s a series of incredible photos of Miami’s essential workers who have helped take care of us during the pandemic ...

THE CONTACT TRACING CHALLENGE IN FLORIDA

9:30 a.m.: Contract tracing is considered a critical part of stopping a possible second wave of COVID-19. But in Florida, no stranger to scams, getting people to pick up the phone and trust the health representative on the other line with personal information can be difficult.

The tracers are virus detectives, tracking down newly infected people and those with whom they may have had close contact with in an effort to isolate them and stop the disease from spreading.

Read the full story here.

AN UPDATE ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN FLORIDA

9:20 a.m.: New jobless claims in Florida last week climbed by 47,045 to 221,905, as the state approached the grim milestone of two million claims submitted since the coronavirus crisis began.

The latest initial jobless claims numbers are for the week ending May 9.

Read the full story here.

CATCH UP TO START THE DAY

9:15 a.m.: Here are the coronavirus headlines to catch you up on what’s happening around South Florida and the state as Thursday begins.

▪ Florida coronavirus cases hit 42,402 as the death toll surpasses 1,800

▪ Education leaders eye ways to reopen Florida schools after coronavirus sent kids home

▪ Moving on a new Yellow Flag Phase: Miami-Dade releases color-coded coronavirus plan

▪ Miami-Dade cities plan to reopen businesses and parks, hoping COVID-19 is on decline

▪ Miami Beach waits to open restaurants closed by COVID-19 but will add outdoor seating

▪ Gov. DeSantis rejects White House proposal to COVID test all elder-care residents

▪ Miramar will furlough employees until December to curb COVID-19-related financial struggles

▪ ‘This is wicked’: Miami clears out Overtown homeless encampment despite CDC guidance