Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
States across the country are struggling to source personal protective equipment. Florida is one of them.
Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz has been struggling to source PPE for Florida’s front-line health care workers.
Many vendors are turning the buying process into an aggressive bidding war between states — and those are the “good” ones. Others are conducting outright scams, asking states to wire them money in exchange for gear they don’t have on hand and possibly never will.
With a lack of reliable sellers, Moskowitz is looking to cut out the middleman.
Over the past few days, he’s repeatedly appealed to 3M, the manufacturer of the coveted “N95” medical masks, to sell their products directly to the state.
“I have money, you have masks yet you won’t sell them to me,” he said in a Thursday tweet.
3M hasn’t responded to Moskowitz’ pleas directly, though the company did say this week that they are working to curb price gouging, combat counterfeiting and increase U.S. mask production to 50 million a month.
But that won’t happen until June. The Florida outbreak is expected to peak in May.
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Senate President Bill Galvano sent a memo to all members and staffers directing them “to work remotely to the greatest extent possible” while maintaining Senators’ abilities to serve their constituents.
In addition to work-from-home instructions, the Bradenton Republican said he has approved 80 hours of emergency leave for all Senate employees so they can take time off to deal with the effects of the coronavirus on themselves and their families.
The leave time is valid through the end of the year. The announcement comes as Florida has seen a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases, crossing 8,000 positives and 128 deaths on Thursday — a more than threefold increase over the past week.
Coronavirus Numbers
Positive cases:
— 8,694 FL residents (+977 since 10 a.m. Thursday)
— 314 Non-FL residents (+21 since 10 a.m. Thursday)
Origin:
— 904 Travel related
— 1,425 Contact with a confirmed case
— 587 Both
— 5,778 Under investigation
Hospitalizations:
— 1,167 in FL
Deaths:
— 144 in FL
Evening Reads
“A record 6.6 million seek US jobless aid as layoffs mount” via Associated Press
“Treasury Department says Social Security recipients won’t need to file tax returns to get their stimulus payments” via Wall Street Journal
“DNC to postpone convention until August due to coronavirus outbreak” via Alexi McCammond of Axios
“Megachurches are exempt from safe-at-home order following Ron DeSantis’ clarification” via Janelle Irwin of Florida Politics
“DeSantis pushes back in beach closure lawsuit” via Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida
“‘I apologize’ for Florida’s unemployment website fiasco, director says” via Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times
“Florida to accept paper applications for jobless benefits” via Gary Fineout of POLITICO
“Ill cruise ship passengers will be transferred to Florida hospitals” via Bruce Ritchie of POLITICO
“Hillsborough officials blast DeSantis for exempting religious services in safe-at-home order” via Janelle Irwin of Florida Politics
“Despite OK from DeSantis, Miami archbishop says there will be no Easter Masses” via Devoun Cetoute of the Miami Herald
“Golf gets specific OK under DeSantis stay-at-home order” via the Associated Press
“Thousands of Pinellas businesses will have to close after order from Gov. DeSantis, commission says” via Mark Puente of the Tampa Bay Times
“Life in the time of coronavirus: A strange new world” via Lucy Morgan for The Florida Phoenix
“A coronavirus fix that passes the smell test” via Michael Lewis for Bloomberg
Quote of the Day
“It’s just a complete boondoggle. It’s incredibly disappointing because as a Senator, I’ve had tons of people, I can’t even tell you how many, come to tell me what a disaster it is. My own mother has tried to file over 100 times without success.” — Sen. Joe Gruters, on Florida’s failing unemployment claims website.
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