Seniors will get priority in COVID vaccines in Florida over essential workers because they are more likely to be badly sickened or die from the virus, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. "The fact is, the mortality among the essential workers is a fraction of what it is in the senior population," DeSantis said. "So, the more you're able to provide the protection to senior citizens, the less stress you have on hospitals and, obviously, the more lives you’re going to save." Florida Phoenix

Florida lawmakers could soon face deciding whether to cut unemployment taxes – a move that would help struggling businesses but could also leave the state without enough money to get benefits to workers who've lost jobs. Under state law, unemployment taxes are set to automatically increase Jan. 1 to replenish the trust fund that finances Florida's unemployment system. Although Florida pays some of the lowest unemployment benefits in the nation, a maximum of $275 per week, that fund is drying up amid the mass layoffs spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. Orlando Sentinel

The federal Department of Health and Human Services is allocating another $4.5 billion to hospitals and provider groups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said Dec. 16. In October, HHS announced it would give providers $20 billion from the Provider Relief Fund in its phase three general distribution. Now, the agency will offer $24.5 billion to help hospitals and providers offset revenue losses and increased expenses. Becker's Hospital CFO Report

Top congressional leaders were nearing agreement Wednesday on a COVID-19 relief package, hoping to seal a deal that would extend aid to individuals and businesses and help ship coronavirus vaccines to millions. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., a coauthor of a $908 billion bipartisan package, said leadership negotiators were close to agreement on a package that would extend direct payments of perhaps $600 to most Americans. No. 2 Senate Republican John Thune confirmed the likely addition of direct payments, as well as a $300-per-week bonus federal unemployment benefit to partially replace a $600-per-week benefit that expired this summer. The bill would also include a new round of stimulus checks and federal unemployment benefits. A GOP-sought provision shielding businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits is likely to be dropped. Orlando Sentinel / Politico

Florida saw more than 16% growth in Medicaid managed care enrollment between March and September, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida saw the fifth biggest increase among the states. The largest was in Nevada, where enrollment went up 25.2%. Kaiser Family Foundation: Growth in Medicaid MCO Enrollment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

With COVID-19 cases having risen to recent highs, a few South Florida cities are putting curfews in place in an effort to stop the gatherings that have fueled the spread of the virus. But the rules also mark a return to an aggressive mitigation strategy that was so polarizing earlier in the outbreak. A city of Miami curfew, which went into effect this past weekend, runs from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. The town of Palm Beach, which enacted its curfew Monday, will have it run from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Gov. Ron DeSantis has insisted that cities not aggressively shut down the economy, and has signed an order that prevents cities from collecting fines for violations of special COVID rules. The town of Palm Beach voted to pass its curfew as a proactive measure, taking into account the town's elderly population, police spokesperson Michael Ogrodnick said. The town doesn't plan on enforcing fines. Sun Sentinel

A Tampa General Hospital nurse was among the first people in Florida to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot Monday, and officials announced 20,000 initial doses for Orlando health care workers will be coming Tuesday. The vaccination of 31-year-old Vanessa Arroyo was done in front of Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference in Tampa Monday morning. The shot came just hours after DeSantis personally signed for the FedEx delivery of the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was approved Friday by the federal Food and Drug Administration. “This is 20,000 doses of hope,” said Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris, who appeared alongside DeSantis. “This is the beginning of the end." DeSantis said that Tampa General, UF Health Jacksonville, and Memorial Health Care System in Broward County were the first to each receive 20,000 doses Monday. AdventHealth in Orlando and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami are slated to each receive their first 20,000 doses on Tuesday. In a news release, AdventHealth said it planned to start inoculating its “frontline staff” on Wednesday. Orlando Sentinel

The first COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. are expected to begin today, starting the most anticipated mass vaccination campaign in decades. Pfizer began shipping vaccine on Sunday and it was scheduled to arrive at some hospitals and health departments across the country early Monday. Officials said shots could start being administered within hours of arrival. High risk healthcare workers were expected to be first to receive doses. Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Fox News

State officials said Monday that more than 20,000 Floridians have died with COVID-19. The Department of Health reported the deaths of 137 residents Monday for a total of 20,003 fatalities. An additional nonresident also died in the Sunshine State, raising the overall death toll to 20,271.  Florida Politics / Department of Health

A recent White House Coronavirus Task Force report has designated Florida as a "red zone" in immediate need of increased mitigation efforts. The Center for Public Integrity made the Dec. 6 report public. The report says Florida has seen "stability in new cases, an increase in test positivity, and increasing hospitalizations and deaths." As part of increased precautions, the report suggests that the state begin to warn residents against any gatherings during December holidays, institute aggressive testing and urge the use of "masks at all times in public." Fox News

Congress sent a temporary government-wide funding bill to President Donald Trump on Friday that would avert a federal shutdown at midnight and buy time for on-again, off-again talks on COVID-19 aid. The talks are stalled but Congressional leaders don't want to adjourn for the year without passing a long-delayed new round of pandemic relief. An emerging $900 billion aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers hit a rough patch after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came out against it, but negotiations continue and pressure remains intense. President Donald Trump has renewed a push for a fresh round of stimulus checks for Americans, proposing $600 per individual rather than the $1,200 that was sent out this spring. Cost concerns are responsible for the smaller amount. Associated Press

A U.S. government advisory panel convened Thursday to decide whether to endorse mass use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to help conquer the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. The meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration represented the next-to-last hurdle before the expected start of the biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. Depending on how fast the FDA signs off on the panel's recommendation, shots could begin within days. "The American public demands and deserves a rigorous, comprehensive and independent review of the data," said the FDA's Dr. Doran Fink, who described agency scientists working nights, weekends and over Thanksgiving to get that done. The FDA is not required to follow the committee's advice but is widely expected to do so. Once that happens, the U.S. will begin shipping millions of doses of the shot. Later this month, the FDA is expected to pass judgment on another vaccine, developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, that has proved about as protective as Pfizer's. Vaccine candidates by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are also in the pipeline. Associated Press

The chief judge of Miami-Dade's trial courts said Wednesday that all jury trials will be suspended through at least Jan. 31, 2021, due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Law360 / Miami Herald

Gov. Ron DeSantis described his COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan for the state during a White House vaccine summit on Tuesday. DeSantis said the state's proposal calls for vaccinating seniors in nursing homes before the end of December, while also getting vaccines into the hands of "high-contact" front line health-care workers in five urban areas by the end of next week. "Then, we think, based on the numbers, at the end of December we can start getting it out into the broader senior population," DeSantis said during a panel discussion with three other governors and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. "And then [in] January, really focus on vaccinating as many elderly people as we can." Orlando Sentinel

President-elect Joe Biden has laid out plans for battling the coronavirus pandemic during his first 100 days in office, including a vaccine distribution plan and an order for mask wearing in certain places. Biden said he will sign an executive order the day he is sworn in to require masks on buses and trains crossing state lines, as well as in federal buildings. Biden also pledged to distribute "at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots" during that time, singling out teachers, who he said should get shots "as soon as possible" after they are given first to health workers and people who live and work in long-term-care facilities under current plans. He did not specify whether he meant 100 million doses or vaccinating that many people; the two vaccines nearing approval both require two doses. Washington Post

Compensation to jobless Florida residents was nearing $20 billion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March this week, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity. About $15 billion of that cost was picked up by various federal programs, while $3.7 billion in state reemployment assistance was paid out, according to the agency's dashboard on assistance claims. More than 4.8 million jobless claims have been filed. Department of Economic Opportunity

Documents released by U.S. regulators Tuesday confirmed Pfizer's vaccine was strongly protective against COVID-19 and appeared safe – offering the world's first detailed look at the evidence behind the shots. The positive review from the Food and Drug Administration sets the stage for a decision allowing the vaccine's initial use within days. On Thursday, the FDA will convene a group that will publicly debate how strong the data backing the vaccine is. That public vetting is considered key to bolstering confidence in the shots ahead of what's expected to be the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history. The FDA typically follows the committee's advice. Associated Press / Stat News / Washington Post / CNBC

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and city officials will introduce an campaign today to tout the city's goal of being "Florida's most COVID-safe community."

Our positivity rate is the lowest among Florida's most populated counties, but we can and must do better.

In St. Pete, we're going to recommit ourselves to lowering our positivity rate.

We are going to win.

I look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow. #RaceToSafe

— Rick Kriseman (@Kriseman) December 6, 2020

The latest positivity rate for new cases of coronavirus in Pinellas County is 6.19% compared to 8.26% in neighboring Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa.

#LIVE: St. Pete Mayor Rick @Kriseman and other city officials discuss the city's new "Race to Safe" campaign, which aims to make St. Petersburg "Florida's most COVID-safe community." https://t.co/fUSXRTrPNr https://t.co/91Si98SMe2

— 10 Tampa Bay (@10TampaBay) December 7, 2020

"Our positivity rate is the lowest among Florida's most populated counties, but we can and must do better," Mayor Kriseman tweeted. "In St. Pete, we're going to recommit ourselves to lowering our positivity rate." WFLA

With time running out, lawmakers closed in on a proposed COVID-19 relief bill that would provide roughly $300 in extra federal weekly unemployment benefits but not another round of $1,200 in direct payments to most Americans, leaving that issue for President-elect Joe Biden to wrestle over with a new Congress next year. The $908 billion aid package to be released Monday would be attached to a larger year-end spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown this coming weekend. The proposal is expected to include about $300 per week in bonus federal unemployment payments, providing relief just as emergency aid payments at regular benefit levels are set to expire at year’s end. It would extend a freeze on evictions for people who cannot pay their rent and reauthorize the Paycheck Protection Program to give a second round of subsidies to businesses struggling through the pandemic. Orlando Sentinel

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave an optimistic assessment of the prospects for a mid-sized COVID-19 relief bill and a separate $1.4 trillion government-wide spending bill on Friday, boosting expectations for a successful burst of legislative action to reverse months of frustration on pandemic relief. Pelosi told reporters that she and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are in sync on a plan to reach agreement on the massive omnibus spending bill and to add COVID-19 relief to it. Tampa Bay Times