New Coronavirus: FL Governor Announces Bridge Loans; 5th Death

TALLAHASSEE, FL — While panic buying has led to big lines at Costco stores from Miami to Tampa and Jacksonville, other businesses in Florida have been hard hit by the new coronavirus outbreak as the number of confirmed cases rose Monday night to 160 and a fifth person who died from the illness.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state is making available "bridge loans" of up to $50,000 for small businesses affected by the outbreak. The program is open to businesses with between two and 100 employees.

"We think this is obviously something that’s affecting the economy," DeSantis said. "We hope this is not something that affects the economy infinitum, that it’s relatively short."

The one-year loans will carry a zero percent fixed rate with no pre-payment penalty, according to the governor. Don’t miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

"The problem is, if you’re in some of these industries that are really getting hit, you have a cash flow issue, particularly if you have tight margins," he said. "This is a way to kind of keep people afloat, and then we get on the other side of this, hopefully, we’ll be able to get back to business as usual."

In addition to the $50 million loan package, DeSantis said he asked the U.S. Small Business Administration to make available small business loans for Florida businesses. He also directed the Florida Department of Revenue to provide flexibility on tax deadlines for businesses.

"Some of these corporate income tax payments can be deferred until the end of the fiscal year," he said. "It probably doesn’t make that big of a difference for the state either way, but it may make a big difference for a company that is having problems with cash flow."

State health officials said the fifth person to die from COVID-19 was from Orange County.

Of the 160 positive cases in Florida, 142 involve residents and 18 involve non-Florida residents who are in Florida.

Officials unveiled a new interactive website that tracks Florida cases by county and provides a summary of infected people in each county.

For example, Broward County had 39 cases as of Monday night — more than any of Florida's 67 counties, according to the tracker. There were 22 men and 17 women infected from 19 to 83. Twenty cases were related to travel.

DeSantis said over the weekend that at least three of the Broward cases were unlinked to international travel or any known cause.

"That is still being investigated, but in terms of when you have unlinked cases, that is evidence of community spread," DeSantis said at the time. "I think the important thing to know is we’ve been operating under the assumption — with everything we’re doing with mitigation measures — assuming you were going to see spread in some portion of Florida's communities."

DeSantis also said 61 Florida residents who had been traveling aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship have been permitted to return to the state from Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia.

Sixteen Florida residents landed in Sanford, Florida and were bused to their homes while another 15 people opted to stay behind. The remaining residents landed in Fort Lauderdale and were bused to their homes.

The state's other deaths from the new coronavirus included a 68-year-old Orange County woman who tested positive in California after traveling to Asia, an elderly patient in Santa Rosa County and two elderly patients in Lee County, both of whom suffered from serious underlying conditions. See: Interactive Map: Latest US Coronavirus Cases

DeSantis has ordered the renewals of all Florida driver's licenses and professional certifications to be suspended for 30 days.

"We don’t want people to have to worry about that right now while they are dealing with the effects of COVID-19," the governor said.

He also extended nursing home and assisted living facility licenses for 90 days to remove potential distractions from patient care.

The mayor of Miami has been in self-quarantine since testing positive to the illness last week. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez have also been in self-quarantine after meeting Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro during his recent visit to Florida.

Bolsonaro's press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, tested positive for the new coronavirus after accompanying his president on the Florida visit, which included a stop at President Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort. The president told reporters he too has been tested. The test came back negative.

DeSantis said some recent cases are tied to domestic travel while earlier cases have been linked to international travel.

DeSantis has said Tuesday's presidential primary in Florida would continue as planned, but polling sites that are located in assisted living facilities would be discouraged from allowing the general public to vote at those locations.

Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee said voters can still request a vote by mail ballot and pick it up, or have it picked up for them, at their local supervisor of elections office.

"If a voter has been ordered to self-isolate or has experienced symptoms of COVID-19, and has not yet voted, they should designate someone to pick up their vote by mail ballot for them," she said Monday night. "When a voter designates someone to pick up their vote by mail ballot for them, an affidavit to pick up a vote by mail ballot for a voter must be completed and brought in by the voter's designee. If the voter or their designee waits until Election Day to pick up a vote by mail ballot, then the election day vote by mail delivery affidavit must also be completed."

The documents can be found here.

As of Monday night, there had been a total of 181,800 confirmed cases of the illness and 7,14 deaths around the world, with the majority still in Hubei, China, according to information compiled by Johns Hopkins University. A total of 78,989 people have recovered from the illness. Don’t miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.