Sarasota County death rate is double state level - SNL

...about 1,000 tests were conducted in the past couple of weeks, with about 10% to 11% showing positive results. 

From today's Sarasota News Leader:

The death rate in Sarasota County for those testing positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is close to 7%, compared to less than 3% for the state of Florida, Lynette Herbert, public health services manager for the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County, reported during the April 15 Suncoast Continuum of Care meeting. 

That data is “concerning to us,” she said.. . . . 

Moreover, Herbert pointed out, the hospitalization rate for those in the county testing positive for COVID-19 is more than twice the state average. The county figure is 32%; for the state, it is 14%, she added.

This box on the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 ‘dashboard’ site as of the morning of April 15 offers more Sarasota County COVID-19 statistics. Image from the Florida Department of Health

County elected officials have failed to take rapid intelligent steps, say critics:

New Sarasota COVID-19 test site to open at undisclosed location

"You were elected to solve difficult problems" - LTE in HT

All Talk, No Action in protection for the homeless - Seidman, HT

Time to hire new commissioners? 

Help new candidates get on the ballot

In Covid19 crisis citizens help, elected officials fail the homeless

All Talk, No Action in protection for the homeless

Carrie Seidman's Easter Sunday editorial points to the abject failure of Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota to mount any sort of coordinated,, effective response to the Coronavirus crisis now affecting the homeless as well as everyone else here.

Andrea Buscemi posted this regarding Streets of Paradise, a citizen group helping the homeless during the Covid19 pandemic:

Good morning everyone! Feeling disheartened by this? Well there is something you can do!

COVID 19 has shut down a lot of our homeless friends resources for food. Some volunteers had been trying to fill that void by providing meals 7 days a week.

We have been so lucky to have some help but we are still coming up short. Below is a list of items we desperately need to continue feeding our friends 7 days a week. Also please know we are following the strict guidelines set forth during this stay at home order to keep ourselves and our friends safe.

If you wish to donate you can go to www.streetsofparadise.org and mention “for food supplies” in the “notes” portion of the donation. Thank you all so much. You can also donate via Facebook by visiting the Streets of Paradise Inc. page.

Items needed:

~Granola bars
~Water
~bread
~meat and cheese for sandwiches
~peanut butter
~Jelly
~chips
~mustard
~mayonnaise
~sandwich bags

All items can be dropped off at your convenience to:
3044 Bay St., Sarasota FL 34237

I'd like encourage everyone to join the Streets of Paradise volunteers group to stay current on volunteer opportunities available to help the homeless community in Sarasota.

Cathy Bryant, Greg Cruz, Devon Oppenheimer, and Angel Mendoza Williams are some of the amazing volunteers who lead and organize this group. You can reach out to them with more questions.

Streets of Paradise has ongoing efforts to help feed the homeless.

New: LTE 4.15.20 regarding Board inaction.