Start the week with news from WUWF
Weekly Florida COVID Update
Florida added 12,984 new cases of coronavirus over the last week, according to data from the Florida Department of Health. Florida's total positive cases are at 3,710,507. The state's COVID-19 death toll is now 62,026, up 325 from a week earlier.
The health department reported 122,513 more Floridians were vaccinated in the week ending Thursday. More than 185,000 Florida children — about 11% of the almost 1.7 million 5-11 year old's in the state — have received a shot since the Pfizer vaccine was approved for them in November.
The positivity rate for new cases was 2.6%, .1% higher than the previous week.
Emergency response continues in Kentucky after deadly tornadoes in South and Midwest
Over the weekend, multiple tornadoes ripped through the middle of the U.S. killing nearly 100 people, tore apart a candle factory, a nursing home, an Amazon warehouse and derailed a train. Search and rescue efforts remain in effect. Read the latest from NPR here.
Gov. DeSantis' wish-list for resilience spending is big on flooding, not climate change
Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to spend more than a quarter of a billion dollars on what he calls resilience projects. The state money is designed to attract local spending on stormwater drainage, water pumps and fire stations. And there’s more spending proposals in his overall budget released this week. But when he announced his resilience project spending list, he avoided talking about climate change. Listen to the story from WLRN here.
We could see more urban heat islands as the planet warms. NOAA wants your help finding them
And speaking of climate change, rising temperatures means islands are expected to worsen in dense cities where concrete has replaced trees and green space. NOAA is seeking teams of at least 15 people equipped with sensors that measure temperature and humidity to travel grids at different times of day. Read more here.
A good read: We're not dying of metastatic breast cancer. We're living with it
NPR's Ina Jaffe writes openly about her experience with breast cancer and shares stories from a diverse group of people who are facing metastatic breast cancer. Read the story here.