Coral Gables Watch

Incompetence or Indifference? Miami Commissioners

In these “unprecedented times,” we keep hearing from our electeds, as the COVID19 pandemic and economic crisis stretches into 2021, people need help paying the rent, staying in business and/or feeding their families. So why are city of Miami commissioners sitting on somewhere between $700,000 and almost $1 million in COVID relief grocery and/or Visa gift cards? Only Commissioner Manolo Reyes has given out all the cards allotted to his office through the $4.7 million grocery gift card program, Assistant City Manager Fernando Casamayor said at last week’s meeting, adding that there was still $700K in unspent aid. But when he gave the individual unused balances for each commissioner — who got the original allocations proportionate to poverty index for their district — it’s closer to $929 million:

Alex Diaz de la Portilla in District 1 has $191,000 Ken Russell in District 2 has $279,000 Joe Carollo in District 3 has $99,000 Jeffrey Watson in District 5 has $360,000 They were all surprised that they still had cards left.

Miami commissioners hang on to hundreds of COVID19 relief gift cards – Political Cortadito

COVID-19 death rates by state: Feb. 16

As of Feb. 16, more than 486,000 people in the U.S. have died after contracting COVID-19, according to The New York Times. The Times used data from reports of coronavirus cases and deaths by U.S. states and counties. The database includes cases and deaths that have been identified by public health officials as probable coronavirus patients, which means they did not have confirmed tests for coronavirus infection but were evaluated using criteria developed by national and local governments. Read more about the data here. State population data is from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Here is a breakdown of COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The data was last updated at 8 a.m. CST. Note: These are the latest numbers available.

The list includes ties.

New Jersey: 253 per 100,000 people Population: 8.9 million residents New York: 234 Population: 19.4 million Massachusetts: 225 Population: 6.9 million Rhode Island: 220 Population: 1.1 million Mississippi: 217 Population: 3 million Connecticut: 209 Population: 3.6 million South Dakota: 208 Population: 884,659 Arizona: 206 Population: 7.3 million Louisiana: 201 Population: 4.6 million North Dakota: 192 Population: 762,062 Alabama: 189 Population: 4.9 million Indiana: 181 Population: 6.7 million Pennsylvania: 181 Population: 12.8 million Illinois: 175 Population: 12.7 million Arkansas: 175 Population: 3 million New Mexico: 169 Population: 2.1 million Iowa: 166 Population: 3.2 million Michigan: 161 Population: 10 million Tennessee: 159 Population: 6.8 million South Carolina: 156 Population: 5.1 million Nevada: 153 Population: 3.1 million Kansas: 151 Population: 2.9 million Georgia: 146 Population: 10.6 million Texas: 143 Population: 30 million Ohio: 140 Population: 11.7 million District of Columbia: 139 Population: 705,749 Florida: 135 Population: 21.5 million Delaware: 132 Population: 973,764 Missouri: 128 Population: 6.1 million Maryland: 125 Population: 6 million Montana: 124 Population: 1.1 million West Virginia: 123 Population: 1.8 million California: 119 Population: 39.5 million Wisconsin: 116 Population: 5.8 million Minnesota: 114 Population: 5.6 million Wyoming: 112 Population: 578,759 Nebraska: 110 Population: 1.9 million Colorado: 103 Population: 5.8 million Oklahoma: 102 Population: 4 million Idaho: 101 Population: 1.8 million North Carolina: 101 Population: 10.5 million Kentucky: 100 Population: 4.5 million New Hampshire: 83 Population: 1.4 million Virginia: 82 Population: 8.5 million Washington: 62 Population: 7.6 million Utah: 56 Population: 3.2 million Oregon: 51 Population: 4.2 million Maine: 48 Population: 1.3 million Alaska: 37 Population: 731,545 Hawaii: 30 Population: 1.4 million Vermont: 30 Population: 623,989

COVID-19 death rates by state: Feb. 16

487,000 COVID-19 Deaths USA