It's Friday, April 17th – and NBC 6 has the top stories you need to know for the day.
No. 1 - Florida's first two walk-through coronavirus testing sites will be opening in Broward County.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the sites would open at Mitchell Moore Park at 901 Northwest 10th Street in Pompano Beach and at the Urban League at 560 Northwest 27th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. The sites will open for testing on Saturday and will start with 200 tests per day, DeSantis said.
No. 2 - Residents needing assistance across Miami-Dade County during the coronavirus pandemic will get a new way to apply for needed benefits starting Friday.
The county will start giving out applications for the SNAP food assistance program, the TANF cash assistant program and for Medicaid at 26 branch library locations throughout the area. The applications will be available for pick up in addition to the paper unemployment applications that libraries have handed out for the last two weeks.Â
No. 3 - The Trump administration has issued new guidelines for states, individuals and employers on how to gradually revive activity and ease up on social distancing in areas where coronavirus cases are on the decline.
The guidelines, distributed to governors Thursday, are published under the headline “Opening Up America Again.” Among the boxes that must be checked before phase one can start are a downward trajectory of documented COVID-19 cases within a 14-day period and a robust testing program in place for at-risk health care workers.
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No. 4 - Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell returned home from a shift at his Brooklyn hospital on March 31 and recorded an urgent YouTube message that is resonating in the medical community about the “misguided treatment” during the coronavirus pandemic.
His analysis came after an Italian physician wrote about how some COVID-19 patients with low blood oxygen and labored breathing recovered without ventilators. Now, others in emergency medicine are taking note and seeing similar evidence. Click here to see more on this story in a report from NBC 6’s Tony Pipitone.
No. 5 - Four Miami Dolphins legends are helping some of the folks on the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus outbreak while also feeding those in need.
Former player Kim Bokamper spent part of the day Thursday delivering meals to officers with the Miami Police Department. Bokamper was one of four former Dolphins, including legendary head coach Don Shula, who own restaurants that have been donating meals in recent weeks. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, through the Miami Dolphins Foundation, has donated $250,000 to help feed police officers and first responders.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, keep that umbrella handy as wet weather sticks around in the forecast for Friday in South Florida and into the start of the weekend. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
