Grim Milestone: Florida tallies another record high daily deaths

MIAMI — Florida tallied another record high in daily confirmed coronavirus deaths for the third straight day with 253.

The Florida Department of Health says that raised the state’s total death toll to 6,586.

The new deaths bring the average reported deaths per day to 154 for the past week, second only to Texas in the current resurgence of the outbreak.

The head of a congressional coronavirus oversight panel sent letters to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and three other Republican governors Wednesday requesting documents to show how their states are fighting the pandemic.

According to the letter sent by South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat, Florida is not following three recommendations outlined in a White House coronavirus task force report. It says the state is allowing gyms to remain open even in worst-hit Miami and Tampa, permitting a larger capacity for indoor dining and not limiting social gatherings.

— Florida tallies another record high daily deaths

— India says herd immunity won’t work, need vaccine

— Health officials Birx, Fauci recommend face shields, masks

— Deaths are mounting rapidly in the U.S., and cases are rising in close to 30 states in all. The outbreak’s center of gravity seems to be shift from the Sun Belt toward the Midwest.

— More than 1.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, further evidence of the devastation the coronavirus outbreak has unleashed on the U.S. economy.

— An AP NBA reporter’s town was hard hit by the coronavirus in the suburbs of New York. He shifted from covering sports to covering the virus and protests in the city. Now he’s heading to the bubble in Orlando to cover the NBA, which begins its postponed season.