It’s Friday, March 13th – and NBC 6 has the top stories you need to know for the day.
No. 1 - Health officials in Florida announced late Thursday and early Friday that 16 more positive cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed across the state, including four new cases in Broward County.
Overnight, a 42-year-old man was confirmed to be positive for the virus in Miami-Dade with what the state Department of Health said is reported as a travel related case. This brings up the state's total number of cases to 42. There have been two deaths in Florida.
No. 2 - Officials in one Miami-Dade town are confirming an employee is among those who have tested positive for the coronavirus that has been sweeping the globe.
The town of Bay Harbor Islands said the employee, who self-isolated earlier this week, has tested positive and remains isolated and under medical care. The employee reportedly worked at an aftercare program involving students who attend the Ruth K. Broard/Bay Harbor K-8 Center, which is now closed until further notice as a result.
No. 3 - Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez placed themselves in quarantine after they may have been in contact with the communications director for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the new coronavirus after traveling to South Florida.
The communications director, Fábio Wajngarten, had traveled with Bolsonaro on a three-day U.S. trip and attended a meeting with President Donald Trump at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Miami Police confirmed to NBC 6 that their 21 person motorcycle squad will be self-quarantining after escorting the president.
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No. 4 - Miami Dade College and Broward College both announced they will cancel all classes and transition to remote learning amid concerns of the coronavirus.
MDC's transition will be effective Friday and last through Sunday, March 29, college officials said in a statement. Broward College will cancel classes starting Saturday and the closure will last through March 22. MDC announced earlier that it is closing its Medical Campus after a visitor who attended a recent, non-campus related event there tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
No. 5 - South Florida’s sports scene will look very quiet in the coming weeks after numerous cancellations and postponements over the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Inter Miami CF, which was scheduled to open their home schedule Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, will not be playing any games for the time being after Major League Soccer announced Thursday that they had suspended their season for all teams for 30 days in response to concerns. The National Hockey League announced they were "pausing" their season and Major League Baseball officials said they were suspending the rest of their spring training schedule.
No. 6 – Weatherwise, a pleasant end of the work week across South Florida before temperatures climb entering the weekend. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
