Treasure Coast Covid-19 update May 21 2020

Florida is reporting another 44 deaths from the coronavirus. The statewide death toll is now two-thousand-ninety-six.

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Citywalk reopened at Universal last week.

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Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are scheduled to present reopening plans today.

They will be given to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings’ Economic Recovery Task Force. The information is expected to include projected opening dates and the safety measures they are planning to keep staff and visitors safe.

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Jacksonville will be in the national spotlight for its efforts to return to normal.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said yesterday he’ll be in town tomorrow to highlight the city’s plan to reopen. He’ll also visit a coronavirus test site at TIAA Bank Field. Azar says getting Americans safely back to work and school is absolutely essential to a healthy, thriving country.

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Vice President Mike Pence says the country has slowed the spread of coronavirus, flattened the curve and saved American lives.

During a roundtable discussion in Orlando on the reopening of Florida’s hospitality and tourism industry, Pence quizzed Universal Orlando Resort CEO John Sprouls.

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Although new cases of COVID-19 in western Europe and parts of Asia are on the decline, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that cases worldwide are still surging.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that a spike in cases has sent the number of one-day cases globally above 100,000 for the first time since the outbreak. Tedros said that there were 106,000 new cases of the virus, as the worldwide total of cases approaches 5 million since the beginning of the outbreak.

It is unclear why the WHO’s figures differ from similar tracking data released by Johns Hopkins University, which shows only 21,000 new cases of the virus on Tuesday. The CDC’s figures largely matched those from Johns Hopkins University, which indicated there were 23,000 new coronavirus cases.

Even with the lower Johns Hopkins University numbers, the US continues to have the most daily coronavirus cases in the world. But other countries are seeing number jump.

Brazil and India are among the nations seeing the largest spike. Brazil had over 13,000 new cases of the virus on Wednesday. India had 6,000. Russia has leveled off, but still having a large number of new cases, with around 9,000 new cases reported on Wednesday, according to the WHO. Western Europe and east Asia continue to see a drop in cases.

The UK had its lowest number of cases on Wednesday, 2,400, in nearly two months. Italy had 813 new cases on Wednesday after a peak of over 6,000 on one day. France reported 462 new cases on Wednesday after a peak of 7,500 cases in one day on April 1.

“We still have a long way to go in this pandemic,” Tedros said.

Tedros expressed concern that the virus is spreading in poorer regions of the world, as Africa and India begin to see a rising number of cases.

“We’re very concerned about the rising numbers of cases in low- and middle-income countries,” he said.

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As the state starts to rebound and Floridians get back to work, some still waiting for previous unemployment benefits to arrive worry and wonder if they’ll still get retroactive pay now that they’re employed.

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The intentions were good. Actually, they were great. In an effort to help those struggling financially during the COVID-19 crisis, on March 23, the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) suspended fees to take the state’s teacher certification exam, also known as the FTCE.

The series of must-pass teacher tests can cost an examinee several hundred dollars depending on the tests and number of tests they need to take and pass in order to secure their permanent certification to teach in Florida.

But more than two months before the July 31st deadline to register for the free tests, FLDOE has ended its free offer citing money as the reason.

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Football and basketball players will be allowed to participate in voluntary athletic activities on their campuses as soon as next month.

The NCAA Division I Council voted Wednesday to allow student-athletes in the two revenue-generating sports to rejoin their teams, provided all local, state and federal regulations are followed.

All college athletics were canceled in mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic. The NCAA’s moratorium on athletic activities extends through May 31. The status of voluntary athletic activities in all other sports will be determined at a later date.

Coaches won’t be permitted to attend these voluntary workouts unless they are necessary for safety reasons. The activities must also be initiated by the student-athletes. Conferences and schools can choose to enforce start dates later than June 1st.

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Standing next to Vice President Mike Pence in Orlando Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis attempted to clear the record in Florida but not without tearing into one of the state’s Department of Health employees — Rebekah Jones.

Jones is the health department analyst who made headlines earlier this week after she claimed she was removed from her position crunching COVID case data after she objected to censoring the numbers.

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