Coronavirus Palm Beach County updates: Tenet Health says it’s ready for St. Mary’s, Good Samaritan, Palm Beach Gardens, West Boca and Delray Beach medical centers to have elective surgeries once the ban is lifted.

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Golf courses, parks, boat ramps, marinas, fishing piers, pools and tennis and basketball courts will begin reopening Wednesday as officials announced that Palm Beach County has turned the corner in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

While beaches will remain off-limits and strict social distancing rules will be enforced, County Health Director Alina Alonso said Monday that a steady drop in cases prompted the decision to reopen recreational outlets so people can return to the outdoors.

"This does not mean we’re back to normal in any way, shape or form," she said during an afternoon press conference. "I would say social distancing is more important than before because we don’t want to see those numbers go back up."

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And, it won’t be business or play as usual. Instead of hitting a ball into a hole, golfers will hit a swimming noodle that will be placed in cups on each green. Hitting the noodle will be the new equivalent of putting the ball in the hole.

Tennis and pickleball courts will be available only for singles play. No competitive basketball games will be permitted. Dog parks and skate parks will remain closed. Group of more than 10 people will be prohibited.

Boaters, who attracted the ire of state and local officials when they flouted social distancing guidelines last month, will face stiff fines if they don’t follow the new rules.

A first-time fine of $250, increasing to $500 for subsequent offenses, will be levied against those who moor on sandbars, raft boats together or have too many people aboard.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said arrests are possible. "If you’re part of a flotilla on Peanut Island, we’re going to take you and take your boat. Go by the rules that we set here. Let’s not mess it up."

Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner agreed, emphasizing that what has been given can be taken away. If people abuse their newfound freedom, recreational outlets could be shuttered again.

"There’s been a regression in other states and I don’t want to see that happen here," he said, adding that not all parks and recreational outlets will open Wednesday. The county is still making a decision on an exact timetable.

The reopening of the county’s recreational facilities, along with those in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis is considering ways to jump-start the state’s coronavirus-sickened economy.

Those who expect life to return quickly to normal are going to be sorely disappointed, DeSantis said at a morning press conference at Tampa General Hospital.

"This Phase One is going to be a baby step," DeSantis said. "It’s really not going to be that much different than what you’re seeing now."

While more severe restrictions may remain in place in hard-hit South Florida, DeSantis said life-altering limitations will remain in effect statewide until it is clear that it is safe for Floridians to resume their pre-coronavirus lives.

"This is going to be a slow and steady wins the race," he said. "It’s going to be data-driven and methodical."

After a series of marathon meetings last week, business and government leaders are to convene again this week to make recommendations to the governor about ways to restart the economy and put tens of thousands back to work.

DeSantis hasn’t said when he will announce the new normal. But, President Donald Trump’s "30 Days to Slow the Spread" ends Thursday.

After DeSantis announces his decisions, county officials said they will craft regulations unique to the area. Taking a cue from DeSantis, County Administrator Verdenia Baker said she wants to form teams of local business leaders to explore the best ways to reopen the local economy.

Like county officials, DeSantis said a steady slowing of the spread of the disease means it’s safe for restaurants, offices and manufacturing operations to reopen with restrictions.

The number of people diagnosed statewide now stands at 32,138, a slim 1.9 percent increase since Sunday but a 22.1 percent over seven days, state health officials said. In Palm Beach County, there were 2,763 cases on Monday. That is up 2.4 percent since Sunday, but a 27.3 percent jump since last Monday.

One more person was reported dead on Monday, raising the county’s death toll to 159. Statewide, 1,108 people have died, including 14 deaths that were reported since Sunday.

While the county continues to log new cases and more people die of COVID-19, overall there has been a downward trajectory in the spread of the highly contagious respiratory disease, Alonso said.

Earlier this month, the number of cases were regularly increasing by more than 20 percent a day. Now the increases are in the single digits.

"We reached a peak, and now we’re on our way down," Alonso said. On April 14, a staggering 21 percent of county residents who were tested learned they had COVID-19. According to Monday’s report, only 11.1 percent of those swabbed tested positive.

South Florida stubbornly remains the epicenter of the pandemic statewide, DeSantis said. That’s why it will likely lag behind the rest of the state when businesses are gradually re-opened.

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The 19,127 confirmed cases and 639 deaths in the Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties account for nearly 60 percent of the impact statewide.

"It is clearly a different ball game when you compare Southeast Florida to the rest of Florida," DeSantis said.

Statewide, one restriction that is likely to be lifted is the roughly month-long ban on elective surgery at Florida hospitals. The prohibition is set to expire on May 8.

John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General, said there are enough empty beds available even if there is a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

"There’s no doubt that if we do see a surge or a cluster, this institution and my sister institutions … will be ready and prepared for anything that comes our way," said Couris, former head of Jupiter Medical Center.

Tenet Health has already alerted doctors that elective surgery is likely to resume on May 9 at Good Samaritan, St. Mary’s, Palm Beach Gardens, Delray and West Boca medical centers.

"It is now time to come together to increase access to diagnostic and procedural care for patients in our community who have postponed medical attention or need treatment for new symptoms," Maggie Gill, group CEO of the Palm Beach Health Network, wrote in an email to Tenet doctors.

Plenty of masks and other protective equipment are available, Gill said. Also, procedures are in place to test all patients and isolate those with COVID-19 at Tenet’s five hospitals in the county.

Despite Gill’s assurances, workers at other local hospitals said more protection is needed. Employees of Palms West Hospital, owned by HCA, last week protested outside the Royal Palm Beach medical center, saying they weren’t being given N95 masks to use when they were treating COVID-19 patients.

Hospital officials said they are following federal guidelines, which require the virus-blocking masks to be used only when medical workers are doing procedures that would place them at risk.

To keep the virus in check as the state emerges from the pandemic, DeSantis said testing will not only continue, but will increase.

Doctors who participated in the press conference said ramping up testing is key to stopping the spread of the virus. Health officials need to know who has the disease so they can launch efforts to contain it, said Dr. Charles Lockwood, a dean at the medical school at the University of South Florida.

"We have to test a lot more folks," Lockwood said. For every 100,0000 people, 150 people a day should be tested, he said.

That means roughly 2,250 people should be tested daily in Palm Beach County, more than three times the number being swabbed at the county’s drive-thru testing sites in West Palm Beach, near Delray Beach and Belle Glade.

To bolster the number tested, the county Health Care District on Tuesday will start booking appointments for walk-up testing at C. L. Brumback Primary Care clinics at 1150 45th St. in West Palm Beach and 411 W. Indiantown Road in Jupiter.

Another walk-up site is planned for the Wells Recreation Center in Riviera Beach. Pop-up testing is another way that will be used to reach under-served neighborhoods, said County Commissioner Mack Bernard .

While the number of people tested in recent weeks has increased, Palm Beach County still lags far behind Broward and Miami-Dade counties. As of Monday, roughly 25,000 had been tested compared with 44,000 in Broward and 79,200 in Miami-Dade.

In addition to testing more people, DeSantis said he wants to begin antibody testing to determine how many people had the disease even if they didn’t realize it. Over the weekend, the World Health Organization issued a warning that there is no evidence that people who have had the disease are immune.

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DeSantis said he is expecting a "big shipment" of antibody testing kits on May 1. The priority will be testing workers at long-term care facilities, he said.

"I think that will offer a level of protection of residents," he said. Almost a third of the deaths from COVID-19 statewide have been at long-term care facilities, including 38 in Palm Beach County, according to state reports.

On Monday, for the first time, the state issued a detailed report about the 3,355 people infected at 397 long-term care facilities in the state. The report show how many residents and staff of each facility has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

DeSantis said he will continue to focus on protecting vulnerable residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The ban on visitation will remain in place even as other rules are relaxed, health officials have said.

Alonso and Baker emphasized that the crisis is far from over. Baker urged people to continue to wear masks while in public and to stay away from crowds. The willingness of people to stay in their homes and protect themselves has flattened the curve, she said.

But, more is needed to protect the public. "Eventually, what will really put us back to normal will be the vaccine," Alonso said.

Staff writers Chris Persaud and Hannah Morse contributed to this story.

jmusgrave@pbpost.com

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