Beleaguered
As of last night, Florida had 12,350 confirmed cases of coronavirus: 1,555 hospital admissions and 221 fatalities. Miami-Dade County leads in the number of cases, followed by Broward, Palm Beach, Orange and Hillsborough. Liberty and Taylor counties in North Florida are the only two without a single case. But the problem is — are they truly virus-free, or has there just not been enough testing?
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— New polling shows the vast majority of Floridians support Ron DeSantis’ order imposing a statewide lockdown for the rest of the month, but it also shows that fewer people are trusting the Governor.
— How bad is the computerized application system for Florida’s unemployment office? Bad enough to where the state released a downloadable template of the application, so applicants can fill it out by hand and snail-mail it.
— The Hillsborough County pastor arrested last week for violating public health orders by busing people in for church services decided not to do it again this weekend. The pastor says it was to protect his congregation from government tyranny, but the cancellation of his insurance may have had something to do with it.
— Every day, grocery stores are selling out as people stock up and stay at home, while Florida farmers are hurting because they are no longer able to sell fresh produce to restaurants and schools. In Florida, April and May are the peak seasons — especially for South Florida vegetables — and a lot of that produce may go to waste. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the head of the Florida Farm Bureau have something to say about that.
— Just another day with Florida Man: One broke into a house because he thought he was being chased by dinosaurs; another attacked the ice cream man.