Florida News – Highlights from around the state – April 8th
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis said the state has secured over a million doses of the recently FDA approved hydroxychloroquine, most commonly used to treat malaria, for COVID-19 patients in Florida. Broward Health was the first hospital online with the treatment.
- Florida Supervisors of Elections President Tammy Jones has requested extended options for local elections supervisors in advance of Florida’s August primary elections. The request sent to Governor DeSantis, would allow each supervisor additional flexibility and authority to conduct elections within their county.
- With the DEO’s website back online, though with still occasional issues being reported, Florida’s now processed 600,000 unemployment claims since March 15th. Given the issues with many unable to access the site successfully until Monday, many are requesting retroactive benefits be paid – dating back to the date unemployment began for those filing.
- Earl Baily, a 56-year-old nurse working at Florida Medical center in Lauderdale Lakes, has died after contracting COVID-19. He had no known preexisting conditions.
- Lead researcher from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics, Dr. Ali Mokdad, stated the prominent reason for Florida’s expected peak for COVID-19 being moved up to April 21st from early May – was due to new data from Italy and Spain.