‘A delicate situation.’ Plans to reopen Florida begin as COVID-19 deaths top 600

As South Florida’s hospitals continued to grapple with COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths, Florida’s politicians are plotting a path to reopen society without reigniting the outbreak that has forced schools, businesses and transit hubs into a prolonged lockdown.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that, with social-distancing measures on track to prevent an overwhelming spike in cases, he would establish a task force to help map Florida’s return to normalcy. He made the announcement as the state released new information showing more than 22,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and at least 614 deaths — including 359 in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.

“It obviously is prudent to start thinking about and planning getting people back to work and getting society functioning in a more healthy way,” DeSantis said. “There are a whole host of things we need to be thinking about.”

Florida, a state of about 20 million, has received test results for more than 200,000 — a rate of roughly 1 test per 100 residents. But the scope of Florida’s outbreak remains unclear due to an undefined backlog of pending test results and a lack of antibody testing, which can help determine whether someone was previously exposed to the novel coronavirus.

Still, in Miami-Dade County, where restaurants, beaches, marinas and parks have been closed for weeks, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez held the first gathering of his own local brain trust to reopen the community that has been at the epicenter of Florida’s outbreak. Like DeSantis, he said in a press release that social-distancing efforts have proven successful in preventing the overload of intensive-care wards, and that experts from around South Florida and the state were focused on how to reopen golfing, fishing and boating.

“We will examine what statistical metrics must be met before resuming any activities and will consider what portion of the restrictions to keep in place, depending on conditions,” he said in a statement.

Talks to reopen society come as nursing homes across Florida continue to see transmission of the disease among the state’s most vulnerable population, and as South Florida hospitals continue to treat hundreds of people sickened with the respiratory disease.

The number of deaths at long-term care facilities topped 122 Wednesday as a third death was announced at the Court of Palm Aire in Pompano Beach. And in Miami-Dade, hospitals admitted more people due to COVID-19 than on any other day since the outbreak began, according to county data.

Also Wednesday, two refrigerated trucks arrived at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office, a precautionary measure in case a spike in deaths threatens to overwhelm the county morgue.

But county data also showed that hospitals released more patients on Tuesday and Wednesday than on any previous day since Florida’s outbreak began, and state records on hospital beds showed that roughly 40% of the county’s intensive-care beds remained available as of Wednesday evening.

And as social-distancing measures put in place to stop the spread of the disease offered signs of hope, they continued to wrack the economy as hundreds of private- and public-sector employees were laid off or furloughed. In Monroe County, administrators announced they would furlough more than 10% of the county’s 565-member staff.

“We’ve got some tough days ahead and difficult decisions that lie ahead,” said Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has helped shepherd the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which aims to steer billions of dollars to struggling small businesses.

Rubio, speaking during a video conference with Democratic state lawmakers Oscar Braynon and Shevrin Jones, said the keys to reopening society lie in the availability of rapid testing, the development of an anti-viral treatment, the creation of appropriate but lesser restrictions on communities and the capacity in hospitals.

“It’s a very delicate situation and one that I think you’re going to see made at the local and state level and appropriately so,” he said.

Miami Herald Staff Writers Douglas Hanks and Colleen Wright, and Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau correspondent Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.