The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Florida jumped by more than 800 in 24 hours on Sunday. In total, the state has more than 12,000 positive cases and more than 200 deaths, including one additional death in Pinellas County.
Pinellas jail deputy tests positive
An Pinellas County detention deputy tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, on Saturday. It’s the first reported positive COVID-19 case among jails in the Tampa Bay region.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the county is taking necessary precautions to prevent any possible spread among jail inmates or deputies.
State prisoners test positive
At least two state prisoners have now tested positive for COVID-19.
Both prisoners had been locked up at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility near Pensacola, a private prison under the state’s purview run by the GEO Group, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Essential employees in Tampa Bay cities
All three of Tampa Bay’s largest municipalities have divided employees into those who do critical work and those who don’t in the time of the coronavirus. Here’s how the cities are deciding who works during the pandemic.
Retirement mecca The Villages at risk
Everything that defines the Villages now puts the sprawling retirement community’s residents at risk.
If the coronavirus rips through the community, experts say, the Villages’ huge population of highly social seniors could overwhelm the local health care system.
The difference a month makes
The changes the coronavirus brought seemed to come both quickly and slowly during the month of March. Here’s a look back at how the pandemic transformed spring in Tampa Bay.
Florida saw a pandemic coming and prepared. Then state leaders started to cut.
A Tampa Bay Times special report found that as health officials warned that Floridians were at “grave risk” if a pandemic ever hit, the state over the years has dismantled the defenses it built against a coronavirus-like crisis.
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