Miami – Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida reached 45,588 this Sunday and deaths 1,973 as they increase to more than 784,000 Floridians still awaiting official unemployment aid. According to the state Department of Health, in the last 24 hours, 777 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and nine deaths increased in the state. At the same time, Floridians who have been waiting for unemployment payment for “70 days” have increased to 784,512, as denounced this Sunday by the Democratic minority of the Florida Senate. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has had delays in sending this aid due, among others, to failures on the official website. Senator Lori Berman stressed that it is “inconceivable” that more than nine weeks have passed and the Ron DeSantis government has only paid “half” of the confirmed claims and that “many Floridians have only received a lesser partial payment.” “The system the governor inherited from former governor (Rick) Scott was clearly flawed, but nine weeks is more than enough time to fix it,” he said. Governor DeSantis authorized as of Monday morning a greater economic recovery, which this time does include in a first phase the counties of Miami Dade and Broward, the most affected by unemployment and by the pandemic with more than 21,000 cases of COVID- 19 both. “We believe that if we are to ask Floridians to return to work, the legislature must also get to work on their behalf” and pay unemployment benefits, said Democratic Senator Gary Farmer. “The governor could solve the problem with a firm, but he refuses to do the right thing for the people of Florida,” criticized Senator Víctor Torres. Miami-Dade and Broward continue to be the counties in which the impact of COVID-19 is strongest. The first has accumulated 15,482 confirmed cases to date Sunday and 561 deaths, and the second 6,088 cases and 279 deaths. These counties will enter this Monday in the first of three phases of reopening decreed by the Republican DeSantis, while the other 65 counted from Florida will enter the second. The first allows non-essential businesses such as restaurants, retail stores, museums and libraries to be opened to a quarter of their capacity and the second to half their capacity, and now adds gyms. With 21.48 million residents and an economy based primarily on tourism, a sector paralyzed by the coronavirus, Florida is gearing up for further revival. However, it does not include the opening of beaches, its main attraction, in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where the process is slower. In the latter, even the cities of Miami, Miami Beach, Doral, Hialeh and Miami Gardens will begin just a first phase on Wednesday the 20th. In these five cities, retail will be open to 25% capacity with social distancing measures. Both Miami-Dade and Broward may not open bars, spas, gyms, cinemas, beaches, pools, or tattoo and massage stores.
