Miami Pronouncement: 5/1/2020

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MAY 1, 2020

Six of our neighbors have been pronounced dead in the last 24 hours. As of May 1st, 2020, there have been a total of 358 deaths due to coronavirus across Miami-Dade County. May those who have fallen to the pandemic rest in peace. 

Total number of cases (Miami-Dade County): 12,389

Total number of hospitalizations: 1,576

Total number of deaths: 358

New cases in the past 24 hours: 326

New deaths in the past 24 hours: 6

Greetings neighbors, this is the Miami Corona Project Daily Update for Friday, May 1st, 2020:

As of yesterday, there have been 12,063 positive cases of coronavirus across the county, with 1,509 hospitalizations and a total of 352 deaths–fourteen more than yesterday.  

Across the United States, the national total of positive cases is now 1,067,061, the total number of dead has risen to 62,860.

State officials have stopped releasing the list of coronavirus deaths being compiled by Florida’s medical examiners, which has at times shown a higher death toll than the state’s published count.

The moves to withhold information comes at a sensitive moment for state leaders. Florida’s coronavirus death toll is continuing to rise and state officials have begun talks about when and how to start reopening.

The health department didn’t begin releasing information on which nursing homes have had infections until a consortium of news organizations, including the Herald and the Times, moved to sue for the information. The news organizations filed a lawsuit Monday seeking additional records.

Transparency advocates, public health experts and medical examiners say comprehensive information about deaths is critical to understanding the epidemic’s path and impact.

Let’s hope today brings better news.  I’ll update you tomorrow.

ON THIS DAY

The State of Florida is reassigning more than 1,300 employees within the Department of Children and Families to deal with a backlog of applications for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). This comes after an extension of SNAP benefits that allows families to receive a maximum of benefits per people in a household.

In March, more than 1.47 million households relied on SNAP food stamp benefits, 330,000 of these homes being in Miami-Dade County. As unemployment continues to rise due to a loss of jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic, more residents will need access to public assistance.