Florida coronavirus deaths keep doubling about every four days as the state’s total passed 290 on Tuesday at what could be the beginning of a surge that doesn’t relent until summer.

The state death toll stood at 71 a week ago, and now stands at 296, and one test model projects the state to endure between 3,600 and 11,200 deaths by June 19.


The projected numbers come from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which is one of the models being used by the Trump administration in dealing with the outbreak. It rolled out its updated projections on Sunday to show Florida could see its biggest surge in COVID-19 deaths in the next three weeks before leveling off in May and into June.

Coronavirus Maps of Florida coronavirus cases by ZIP code and county Search for Florida coronavirus patients by ZIP code using this interactive map. Also see hourly updates on confirmed cases, the number of tests conducted and details of each patient. Data including cases in Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County, Orange County, Collier County, Lee County, Manatee County, Pinellas County, Volusia County, Hillsborough County and others.

The range shows a low end of 3,629 deaths and high end of 11,242 deaths with the median at 6,770 deaths in the state. Nationally, the same model shows a range between 49,431 and 136,401 deaths by the beginning of summer with the median at 81,766.


The latest state numbers from Tuesday evening show Florida at 14,747 cases and 296 deaths with 1,893 hospitalizations to date. Since Monday night, the state has reported 29 more deaths and more than 1,110 cases.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said about 140,000 total coronavirus tests have been administered in Florida.

A University of Florida Health program to test people with little or no symptoms is also expanding to Jacksonville from The Villages, where it was kicked off two weeks ago. None of the asymptomatic seniors tested at the sprawling retirement community tested positive, DeSantis said.

Tuesday’s new deaths include five more in Central Florida bringing the eight-county region’s toll to 33 from 1,873 cases. That now includes the first fatalities for Brevard County, with two of the five. Two were in Sumter County while the fifth was in Orange.

Also Tuesday, U.S cases was nearly 390,000 with a death toll over 12,000. Worldwide, there are over 1.4 million cases and more than 81,000 fatalities, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.

COVID-19 tests continue to ramp up in the state including a new appointment-only, drive-through option at UCF that opened Monday. The UCF site is only able to perform 250 tests a day. Late Monday, a spokeswoman for the testing site at the Orange County Convention Center said the site would have 328 tests available Tuesday, up from the regular 250 tests, and is transitioning to state-provided throat swab tests from federally provided nasal swab tests.

Orange County leads the region with 768 cases, followed by Osceola’s 256, Seminole’s 202, Polk’s 199, Volusia’s 163, Lake’s 122, Brevard’s 98 and Sumter’s 87. (See details on all Central Florida cases here).

Hard-hit South Florida leads the state with 8,515 total cases among Miami-Dade (5,126), Broward (2,230) and Palm Beach (1,159) counties, making up about 57.5% of the state’s cases.

Palm Beach leads the state in deaths with 64 followed by 54 in Broward and 47 in Miami-Dade. In Central Florida, Orange County has 10 deaths followed by seven in Sumter, five in Polk, four in Osceola, three in Volusia, two in Lake, two in Brevard and one in Seminole.

Florida government and medical leaders say they are preparing for far worse conditions than we’ve seen so far, prompting them to create bed space in hospitals, recruit more medical staff, create field hospitals and stockpile ventilators — earlier in the crisis than New York did, they say.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said at Tuesday’s virtual county commission meeting the Convention Center could be used as a makeshift hospital if the health system becomes overwhelmed in the “very, very worst-case scenario."


Also at the meeting, Lauraleigh Avery, deputy chief of Orange County’s Office of Emergency said as of late Monday there were 62 patients intensive care units for coronavirus-related illnesses with 52 in other care units. Sixty patients were on ventilators. There are about 450 in the county, she said.

The county still is in need of personal protection equipment, however.

“Although the state has been sending out regular shipments to our county, we have not come close to receiving the supplies that Orange County needs,” she said.

For instance, the county has ordered 234,701 N95 protective face masks, but received just 36,046. It ordered 30,818 bottles of hand sanitizer, but received just 1,700.

New York remains the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, with near 140,000 reported cases and close to 6,000 deaths, with around 3,500 deaths in New York City alone. Neighboring New Jersey surpassed is second in cases with more than 41,000 cases and surpassed 1,000 deaths by Tuesday morning.

You can find a running summary of the latest updates on the coronavirus in the Orlando area and Florida below. Also, sign up for new daily Florida coronavirus update by subscribing to The Health Report newsletter and as-they-happen Breaking News emails at OrlandoSentinel.com/newsletters.

Latest news

Orlando area high school athletes hoping for extra year of eligibility face hurdles

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last month students who are locked out of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic would be allowed to repeat their current grade level in the 2020-21 school year.

We don’t know, and it may be a while before we do. The decision will be made at the state level and probably not until more pressing coronavirus concerns are resolved. In the meantime, the debate rages.


Democrats ask Gov. DeSantis to cancel $543 million in corporate tax refunds

Seven Democratic Florida legislators are asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to halt the more than half a billion dollars in corporate refunds scheduled to go out on May 1 in the middle of what could be a severe budget crunch due to the coronavirus.


The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature committed to the corporate tax refunds — which will total $543 million — two years ago, before lawmakers had any idea how big they would be. The state hasn’t paid them out yet, but May 1 is the deadline.

Gov. Ron DeSantis touts experimental coronavirus drug — again

Gov. Ron DeSantis again followed President Trump’s lead Tuesday by devoting most of his Tallahassee press conference with medical officials to touting the use of an experimental drug to treat the most severe coronavirus cases.

Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug primarily used to treat lupus, has been repeatedly touted by Trump at his White House briefings.

Although some anecdotal evidence has shown the drug to help some patients, it has is still unproven in its effects on coronavirus patients. Yet DeSantis has gone to great lengths to get large amounts to Florida, acquiring what he said were about 1 million doses.

WWE reportedly getting back in Orlando ring for TV tapings this week

The WWE is planning to get back in the ring for TV tapings in Orlando this Friday, according to multiple reports.

Fightful Select and the Wrestling Observer reported wrestlers and other WWE personnel have been told that filming for the TV series Raw and SmackDown will resume Friday at the WWE Performance Center off Forsyth Road in east Orlando. The Observer also reported several weeks of the NXT program will be recorded at Full Sail University in Winter Park, the show’s usual home base.

Slimy: Legislator’s mom gets denied unemployment … so NOW he’s mad. | Commentary

Florida’s unemployment system has been a dumpster fire for the better part of a decade.

It denies benefits to those who earned them. (Fewer than 15% of unemployed workers often receive benefits at any given time.)

It provides some of the chintziest and shortest-lasting benefits in America.

Senate Democrats want to issue ‘hazard pay’ of up to $25K to grocery cashiers, transit operators and other essential workers

Senate Democrats are proposing giving hazard pay of up to $25,000 each for workers including grocery store employees, transit workers and pharmacists who are risking their lives to stay on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak.

These people “are in the line of fire, day in and day out” to help others, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a conference call with reporters. “We are asking these workers to take on great risk. They should be compensated for it.”

Fox Sports Florida to show Magic NBA 2K simulated games

Fox Sports Florida will broadcast NBA 2K simulations of Orlando Magic games from this season that have been postponed by the coronavirus pandemic, the regional sports network announced Tuesday.

The first broadcast will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. as the Magic take on the New York Knicks.

Acting Navy boss submits resignation amid coronavirus uproar over firing captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has submitted a letter of resignation to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

That’s according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the matter before an official announcement.

Trump administration to seek $250 billion more for small businesses

The Trump administration will seek an additional $250 billion to support a program designed to help small businesses keep workers employed through the coronavirus outbreak, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was seeking the additional funds at the direction of President Donald Trump. He said he had spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Orlando airport passenger traffic down 97 percent

As the COVID-19 outbreak has shuttered the region’s tourism industry, its main hub for travelers has taken an unthinkable blow. The airport, crowded beyond capacity a few months ago, is now largely vacant.

The number of departing passengers on Monday at Orlando International Airport was 2,597, a plunge of 96.6 percent from the same day last year, according to figures provided by the airport and based on Transportation Security Administration screenings.

Coronavirus fallout: 4 Seasons Resort lays off 835 people, state records show

The Four Seasons Resort in Orlando has laid off 835 people as Central Florida hotels continue to absorb heavy coronavirus-related losses. The layoffs began March 24 ″due to the unforeseeable, unanticipated and substantial reduction in business levels resulting from the sudden and widespread impact of an infectious disease pandemic known as Coronavirus Disease 2019," the company’s director of people and culture Donald Lacey wrote in a notice required by the state.

Florida sheriff begs public not to attend huge Easter gathering

Frustrated by a planned Easter gathering in a south central Florida neighborhood, a sheriff is urging people not to attend. Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman on Monday said he is “strongly discouraging anyone from attending the annual Easter weekend gathering” in Lake Placid’s Highway Park.

President Trump sidelines watchdog who was to oversee $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus spending

President Donald Trump has sidelined the inspector general who was tapped to chair a special oversight board of the $2.2 trillion economic package intended to help businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Glenn Fine, the acting Defense Department inspector general and a veteran watchdog, had been selected by peers last month for the oversight position.


Florida ban on evictions leaves small businesses exposed

On April 2, about the time the first round of rent checks came due after the coronavirus pandemic shattered the state’s economy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stepped in to save renters by suspending residential evictions for at least the next 45 days. But the governor chose not to stop commercial evictions — and now some small businesses say they are at risk of being forced out.

Orlando City promotes local businesses through #AllforORL campaign

The club launched an interactive map to promote and support local businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Brevard County’s first deaths

Brevard County was the last Central Florida county to log a death from COVID-19, but the state reported it saw two deaths, both involving people over the age of 75. The county sent out a press releases saying it has 95 confirmed cases, 28 hospitalized and six on ventilators.

“This battle is a mutual battle against coronavirus,” said Brevard County Commission Chair Bryan Lober in the release. “We all need to take recommendations by the CDC and by the FDOH as seriously as you can. I don’t want anyone to unnecessarily have to go through what these folks’ families are going through. You need to protect yourselves. You need to stay at home if you don’t need to go out, especially if you’re in a high-risk category either as a result of advanced age or as a result of one or more pre-existing conditions.”

‘Schitt’s Creek’ tour postponed at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center

“Schitt’s Creek: The Farewell Tour” will not be arriving at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts as scheduled on May 23. But there’s good news: The tour is not canceled; the Orlando stop will be rescheduled for a future date, according to the arts center.

Nearly 200 million lost jobs

The U.N.’s labor organization estimates the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs could be lost in the second quarter alone from the COVID-19 outbreak, with businesses and plants shuttered worldwide.

The projection from the International Labor Organization is based on an emerging impact of the virus, and it amounts to a big increase from its March 18 prediction for an extra 25 million jobs losses for all of 2020.

The agency says full or partial lockdown measures now affect nearly 2.7 billion workers or about 81 percent of the global workforce. Some 1.25 billion are in hard-hit sectors such as hotel and food services, manufacturing and retail.

New York City virus deaths top Sept. 11 attack

More people have died from the coronavirus in New York City than perished in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. At least 3,202 people have been killed in the city by the virus, according to a new count released by city health officials Tuesday.

The deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil killed 2,753 people in the city and 2,977 overall, when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.

The coronavirus has made New York ground zero again in a national tragedy and the center of a crisis that is reshaping Americans’ lives and liberties.

Coronavirus cases reach 200 in Lake, Sumter, 52 in The Villages

The coronavirus infections in Lake and Sumter counties reached 200 on Tuesday morning, with two new deaths reported in Sumter, state officials said. That brings the total reported deaths from COVID-19 to nine in the two counties, which are home to The Villages, the massive retirement community with more than 125,000 residents.

There are now 52 cases in The Villages, which has shut down its popular nightly entertainment on its three downtown squares and canceled its hundreds of clubs.

Florida Panhandle property owners sue over beach closures behind their oceanfront homes

Arguing that they are being prevented from using their own backyards, oceanfront property owners are asking a federal judge to block a Walton County ordinance that has closed beaches amid the coronavirus crisis. The property owners filed the lawsuit and a request for an injunction Monday in federal court in Pensacola. It came after numerous local governments across the state closed beaches to prevent potential spread of the disease, and as Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted ordering statewide beach closures.

Will Disney World check temperatures at the gates? Bob Iger talks about how parks could adapt post-coronavirus.

How will Disney World be different in a post-coronavirus world? The theme parks have been shut down March 16 and still don’t have an official opening date, as much still remains uncertain on the virus that’s killed more than 250 people in Florida and caused governments to enact executive orders to stay home.

But when Disney’s theme parks eventually reopen, the company could add new security steps, such as checking people’s temperature before they’re allowed inside to make people feel safe again, said Bob Iger in an interview with Barron’s on a variety of topics that included the company’s films and streaming service.

Darden Restaurants furloughs Orlando headquarters’ staff as sales plummet with coronavirus

Darden Restaurants is furloughing employees at its Orlando headquarters and cutting pay for those who remain working there as sales plummeted more than 70% in recent weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Darden, owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse with more than 1,800 restaurants and 190,000 employees, announced the furloughs Tuesday and reported same-restaurant sales were down 39.1% for the past six weeks.

Federal stimulus checks may start arriving this week. Here’s who gets what and how.

The stimulus checks coming to taxpayers, probably starting later this week, are expected to help people for a little while. And while most people will get payments, questions linger whether many others will receive them. How do divorced parents qualify? Newborns? College students?

Most taxpayers will get the payments of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent child. But not everyone, and there are no solid estimates of how many people will get the cash. Here are answers to some questions people are raising.


U.S. Surgeon General Adams touts social distancing

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed optimistic comments by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, saying that if Americans keep practicing social distancing for the rest of April “we can start to slowly reopen in some places.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Adams says U.S. officials are watching to see how China and South Korea handle reopening their societies after putting mitigation efforts in place to deal with outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Appearing on NBC’s “Today,” Adams applauded West Coast public health officials for enacting social distancing early in California and Washington state and providing a “blueprint for how we deal with this in the rest of the country.”

Both Trump and Pence have spoken in recent days of seeing optimistic signs in the data.

Florida woman, dad hit with bat after social distancing warning

A woman and her 61-year-old father were hit in the head with a baseball bat Saturday after warning a group of about 20 college-aged people gathered on a Florida Keys beach about social distancing due to coronavirus, sheriff’s officials said.

The woman, 21, told Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies that she and her father noticed the group drinking on Wisteria Island, which is off Key West, and confronted them about social distancing, sheriff’s officials said in an email. They also asked them to keep the noise down.

Wisconsin voting underway despite virus

Wisconsin is asking hundreds of thousands of voters to ignore a stay-at-home order in the midst of a pandemic to participate in Tuesday’s presidential primary election, becoming a test case for dozens of states struggling to balance public health concerns with a core pillar of democracy. The National Guard is helping to run voting sites across the state after thousands of election workers stepped down fearing for their safety. Dozens of polling places are closed, but those that are active opened at 7 a.m. CDT.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro warned Trump of coronavirus epidemic in January as president downplayed threat

A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.

The warning, written in a memo by Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis that had already consumed China’s leaders and would go on to upend life in Europe and the United States.

The cruise ship industry, now a symbol of the coronavirus pandemic, struggles to survive

First, there was the Diamond Princess, stranded off the coast of Japan as the coronavirus infected hundreds of passengers. Then the Westerdam, circling in the sea for days with nowhere to dock. Then the Grand Princess, the Costa Luminosa and the Zaandam.

Cruise ships have been a focal point of the coronavirus pandemic from the beginning, widely blamed for a series of major outbreaks that spread the disease across the world.

Navy crew member on NY hospital ship is positive

The Navy says a crew member on board the hospital ship USNS Comfort in New York harbor tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. The crew member has been isolated from patients and other crew members, and the Navy says the illness will not affect the Comfort’s mission of receiving and treating patients.

The Navy had recently announced that the Comfort, which initially was taking only non-COVID patients, is now accepting trauma, emergency and urgent care patients regardless of their COVID status.

McD’s switches to coronavirus tests

A McDonald’s drive-thru in southern Israel has traded french fries and Big Macs for a product that is going like hotcakes: coronavirus tests. With the global pandemic prompting McDonald’s to close its restaurants in Israel, a partnership with one of the country’s health care providers is turning some of the shuttered drive-thrus into drive-thru testing centers.

Ilan Tibi, the southern district director for the Clalit HMO, says patients can come to the center after receiving a referral from their doctor. Cars are greeting by medical teams in protective gear who test the passenger without having to exit the vehicle.

The center at Shoket Junction, next to the city of Beersheba, can conduct about 40 tests a day. Israel has reported over 9,000 cases of COVID-19 and 60 deaths.

Special ‘essential workers’ named

To boost spirits, New Zealand’s leader clarified the definition of who are considered essential workers. “You will be pleased to know that we do consider both the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny to be essential workers,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said just a few days before Easter.

Kissimmee Police Department sees officer, civilian employee test positive for COVID-19: report

A Kissimmee police officer and a civilian employee of the the police department were diagnosed with coronavirus. As a result, eight members of the KPD staff are under self quarantine because of potential high risk exposure.

Sanford company builds portable ICU as alternative to medical tents

The Sanford-based manufacturer of portable clinics is introducing an “ICU in a Box” structure that can be quickly assembled and serve as an alternative to tents that are currently used as make-shift hospitals. “Fundamentally, the difference is the fact that whatever is going to be deployed now is a one-time use,” said Ron Ben-Zeev, founder of World Housing Solution, referring to tents.

British PM still in ICU, not on ventilator

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in stable condition in an intensive care unit and has not been put on a ventilator. Johnson spokesman James Slack says “the prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance.”

He said Johnson was not receiving mechanical ventilation and does not have pneumonia. Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital late Sunday with a fever and cough that persisted 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He was moved to the intensive care unit Monday evening after his condition worsened.


More grocery store workers come down with virus in Florida

They’re perhaps some of the most essential workers, performing a service no one can live without, but grocery store workers face more and more risks from the new coronavirus when they go to work each day. Two more grocery store employees have come down with the virus in Florida. At least four other Publix employees have tested positive for the virus in Florida, and one case was confirmed in Cummings, Georgia.

Surging in deaths and fearing the worst, Palm Beach County braces for coronavirus onslaught. It even adds an overflow morgue.

Palm Beach County has emerged as one of the hardest-hit places in Florida’s COVID-19 outbreak, recording 14 deaths in a single day over the weekend and leading the state’s death count on Monday. At the county morgue, officials are fearing the epidemic will get worse. Two 40-foot refrigerated containers have been leased to store bodies if needed, said Paul Petrino, operations manager at the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Seventh resident at Florida assisted-living facility dies of coronavirus

Another resident has died from the new coronavirus at Atria Willow Wood, bringing the death toll to seven at the Fort Lauderdale assisted-living facility. The death was shared Friday evening in an email from facility staff. The victim was a 94-year-old woman, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

COVID-19 testing center at Orange County Convention Center increasing number of tests Tuesday

More people will be able to be tested at the coronavirus testing site at the Orange County Convention Center Tuesday, as the site will have a total of 328 tests available.

Goodwill forced to lay off workers as stores close

Goodwill Industries of Central Florida — whose mission is to help people find sustainable work — has had to lay off more than 1,000 of its employees since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the region’s 29 retail stores.

The post-coronavirus world could see more employees working from home, analysis says

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could sharply increase the number of people who work from home after it subsides, according to a new analysis. Researchers at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, which had been monitoring the practice even before the crisis, said businesses have been forced to find a way to make remote work succeed.

Former death row inmate won his freedom before the coronavirus crisis. Now, he fears for the safety of the innocent still behind bars

The new normal of social distancing and isolation during the coronavirus pandemic has challenged former death row inmate Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin in ways that most cannot imagine. Aguirre-Jarquin, whose conviction in a Seminole County double murder was overturned due to DNA evidence and someone else’s confession, now lives in Tampa. He participated in a virtual town hall Monday hosted by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that seeks to exonerate the wrongly convicted.

Flights in and out of Sanford airport dwindle to a trickle because of coronavirus crisis

Orlando Sanford International Airport, which saw passenger counts soar for a decade, is now watching its operations come to a near halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to most airports across the country, the Sanford airport’s terminal was nearly empty on Monday.

Online Easter, Passover services let Orlando-area faithful worship while social distancing

Passover and Easter, two of the holiest observances in their respective religions, are fast approaching, even as the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to keep their distance from each other.

Zookeepers become therapy humans to lonely animals | Commentary

Unlike a lot of people, Andre doesn’t worry about where his next meal is coming from these days. What’s bothering him is not having the usual servers. Andre is a llama at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. Were this a regular spring, 50,000 people a month would be coming through.

Lake Nona High seniors make video to share positive message from Class of 2020

Two Lake Nona High School seniors last week assigned themselves a class project, one they thought would spread a hopeful message and document the Class of 2020′s struggles with a school year unlike any other.

It’s the perfect time to organize your home. Here’s what to watch for inspiration.

If the coronavirus has you stuck inside, now is the perfect time to tackle organization and other projects around your house or apartment.

Tip of the day

Cloth face coverings should fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face, be secured with ties or ear loops, include multiple layers of fabric, allow for breathing without restriction and be able to be laundered and machine dried without damage or change to shape.

Symptoms? Do this

Call your health-care provider if you have cough, fever and shortness of breath — and you’ve been in close contact with someone how has COVID-19 or has recently traveled to one of the following countries, where the virus transmission is widespread: China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea.

How to protect yourself

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Stay home when you are sick and avoid contact with persons in poor health.

Don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then dispose of the tissue.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

Clean and disinfect touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.

Follow these recommendations for using a face mask: The CDC now recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. Follow these guidelines for using a cloth mask.

Questions? Here are numbers to call

The Florida Department of Health has set up a call center to answer questions about coronavirus. There’s a number for Orange County, too.


The Florida Department of Health’s number is 1-866-779-6121 and is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Residents can also email questions to COVID-19@flhealth.gov.

The Health Report: Florida Coronavirus Newsletter Daily A daily update on the coronavirus crisis in Florida. You are now following this newsletter. See all newsletters.

In Orange County, the number to call is 407-723-5004; it’s available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For mental-health help, here is a list of resources.

For accurate, up-to-date information, visit

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov

The Florida Department of Health: floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/COVID-19. For questions, call the COVID-19 call center at 866-779-6121 or email COVID-19@flhealth.gov.

A live map of COVID-19 cases around the globe: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

You want to be extra-prepared? Here’s how to stock up before a pandemic: ready.gov/pandemic

For the latest coronavirus updates, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/coronavirus and follow @orlandosentinel on Twitter.

See complete coverage at OrlandoSentinel.com/coronavirus.