Itās Monday, April 6th - and NBC 6 has the top stories you need to know for the day.
No. 1 - Fourteen people from a cruise ship that docked in Florida over the weekend with coronavirus victims aboard were hospitalized and a third person died, authorities said Sunday.
The Princess Cruises ship, which docked Saturday in Miami, also began disembarking on Sunday fit passengers who were cleared for charter flights out. Passengers with symptoms of COVID-19 or recovering from it were being kept on the ship until medically cleared. In a statement Sunday night, the Miami-Dade County mayor's office said one of the six people removed Saturday from the ship had died after being taken by private ambulance to a Hialeah hospital.
No. 2 - Florida confirmed nearly 800 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing the state's total to 12,350. The number includes 11,961 Florida residents and 389 non-residents.
The state's death toll from the virus rose sharply to 221. Statewide, 1,555 people remain hospitalized. Miami-Dade County continues to lead the state with 4,146 cases, about 33 percent of the state's total. Broward was second with 1,886 cases, followed by Palm Beach with 1,000. Monroe County had 44 cases.
No. 3 - If you were hoping to try to submit an application for Florida's unemployment benefits online, you may have better luck Monday after the state re-launched its website early in the morning.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced the site was available starting around 5 a.m. after the website went down because state officials say they've been getting so many job unemployment applications. Officials say they have gotten close to 2.1 million calls from out of work Floridians in the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic broke out last month. State officials have begun to ask job seekers to apply using a paper application that is available on the departmentās website to download.
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No. 4 - More than two weeks after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami announced he was free of the virus Sunday afternoon.
In a tweet, Diaz-Balart said he reunited with his family in Miami after being self-quarantined in the nationās capital when the positive results came in. Diaz-Balart added, although he is currently feeling weak, he has applied to donate plasma to critically ill coronavirus patients.
No. 5 - In sickness and in health. Through pandemic and uncertainty. One South Florida coupleās wedding was canceled due the coronavirus outbreak that has also shuttered businesses, postponed concerts and spoiled plans for many.
Jamie Webner and Benjamin Katz planned for a Coconut Grove wedding were ruined, they instead decided to trade nuptials on their balcony with neighbors as their witnesses. Benjamin used technology to livestream the ceremony for family and friends on Zoom, while Jamieās sister, Kelly Webner, officiated the wedding after getting ordained online.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, keep that umbrella handy as South Florida will be dodging isolated showers to start the work week before hot temperatures return. Keep your NBC 6 app handy as well for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
