TreasureCoast Covid Update April 29 2020

Beaches in St Lucie County were open yesterday with restrictions. Here is a video from Walton Rocks Dog Beach where a few dogs were having a good time. Here is our link to all the beaches in St. Lucie County. The beaches in St Lucie County are open with restrictions. You can read about it here.

https://www.facebook.com/Treasurecoast/videos/237561333982947/

Some Indian River Beaches are open with restrictions. Here is Eric Flowers with Undersheriff Jim Harpring of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office discussing the issues. Here is our link to all the beaches in Indian River.

https://www.facebook.com/ircsheriff/videos/1139943676341305/

Florida is coming off its biggest single-day death toll since the coronavirus outbreak began. The Department of Health reporting 83 new deaths yesterday, which brings the statewide toll to 11-hundred-71. Cases total nearly 33-thousand.

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We’ll learn more today about how the governor plans to reopen the state. Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce Phase One of his plan to get life back to normal. He says it will be measured, thoughtful and data-driven.

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The Village of Indiantown is now joining the list of Florida cities requiring the public to wear face coverings in public. Council members voted Tuesday to require individuals to wear masks, bandanas, or any kind of similar covering over their faces that can prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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In honor of the nurses and doctors working on the frontlines against the coronavirus, Dunkin’ Donuts announced that it will provide healthcare workers a free doughnut and coffee on May 6 for National Nurses Day. The May 6 offer is good for a free medium hot or iced coffee along with doughnut. In addition to Dunkin’ Donuts’ offer, healthcare workers can receive a free burrito. Healthcare workers can sign up for a free burrito on its website starting May 6 at noon ET.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a coronavirus adviser to the White House, said that he projects that the US will have the tests required to reopen the economy by late May or early June. Dr. Facui said on Tuesday that the he is seeing the US ramping up available tests. While private laboratories are assisting the federal and state governments ramp up coronavirus testing, testing capacity has been hampered by available swabs, reagents, and testing personnel. On Monday, the White House issued guidelines to states on testing.

The guidelines said that the federal government should only be used as a backup to provide testing to the states. But with shortages of swabs and other essential materials, that has created competition between states in securing testing materials. In one case, Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Maryland, ordered 500,000 tests from South Korea.

Although Dr. Fauci agrees with the approach of having private labs take leadership in preparing tests, he said that the federal governments needs to be active in working with states.

Increased testing, experts including Dr. Fauci agree, is a key component to allow states to confidently reopen their economies. Otherwise, there are concerns that a potential rebound of cases would force states to reimplement social mitigation policies, further exacerbating current economic woes.

The United States has been conducting anywhere from 150,000 to 300,000 tests per day. Although estimates differ on exactly how many coronavirus tests are needed for the economy to reopen, some experts place that number in the millions per day. Harvard University says 5 million tests are needed per day. However, Dr. Fauci pegs that number at closer to 500,000 per day.