It’s Wednesday, May 13th - and NBC 6 has the top stories you should know for the day.
No. 1 - The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk reopened for the first time since it was closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The area will allow residents to visit for exercise only during limited hours, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily, starting on Wednesday. All Broward County beaches remain closed for the time being. The reopening comes after Broward County announced that it would be joining neighboring Miami-Dade County in planning to start phase one of reopening on Monday, May 18th.
No. 2 - Emergency room visits have dropped by almost 50% across Florida since the coronavirus pandemic began as hospital officials on Tuesday warned that patients suffering from heart attacks and strokes are delaying or refusing care because they are afraid of going to the hospital.
In Broward County, the state's early epicenter for the novel coronavirus, nearly twice as many people were already dead by the time first responders arrived in April, compared to a year earlier. Calls to 911 are also down and Fort Lauderdale paramedics transported about 1,000 fewer patients to the emergency room in April compared to the same month in 2019. Broward Health has seen a 30% decrease in the number of stroke victims coming into the ER so far in 2020 compared to last year and a 50% decrease for heart attack patients, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joshua Lenchus.
No. 3 - A frustrated call taker for the Department of Economic Opportunity agonized to NBC 6 over her limited ability to help people get money in their most desperate moments.
NBC 6 obtained internal training documents that reveal how employees are to handle unemployment claimants who finally get through on the phone. The training material says supervisors are listening — and people who stray from instructions could be terminated. Another woman told NBC 6 that workers are also reprimanded for helping users trying to fix issues with a submit button.
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No. 4 - Every Tuesday, Silvia Caridad Izulbaran opens her door to find David Garcia. It’s become a part of her routine.
Garcia works for the office of Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes. His job title of Community Liaison took on a whole new meaning in response to the pandemic. He delivers food to families who need it. Click here to see more as part of our weekly Helping Hands series from NBC 6 reporter Stephanie Bertini.
No. 5 - Emergency calls to 911 often sound harrowing. When the caller is 14 years old and talking about her mother, well, you can feel the terror in the child’s voice.
When Gaby Caro told the operator she doesn’t know how to do CPR, you can hear the desperation loud and clear. Lisette Caro was in full cardiac arrest, dad was at work, so Gaby and her brother Santiago jumped into action. Click here to see what happened next and how a classic episode of NBC’s “The Office” helped out in a report from Ari Odzer you will see Only on 6.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, a gusty Wednesday will lower temperatures slightly across South Florida before wet weather shows up by the end of the work week. Keep you NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
