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When the coronavirus pandemic swept toward Florida, public-health professionals nationally warned of a potentially devastating wave of infections that could imperil the state’s large senior population. But so far, the state seems to have dodged that fate, despite not following advice to impose measures such as an early, blanket lockdown to minimize spread. With Gov. Ron DeSantis preparing to start reopening the state on Monday, epidemiologists and others are asking: What happened? Was Florida smart or lucky? (Campo-Flores and Leary, 5/3)

Florida is joining the U.S. states and countries around the world starting to reopen, as the global number of confirmed cases from the coronavirus pandemic crossed 3.5 million with nearly a quarter-million deaths. The first phase of Florida’s reopening plan calls for restaurants and shops in most parts of the state to operate at 25% of their indoor capacity starting Monday. But schools, bars, gyms and salons will remain closed. (Ping, 5/4)

Beaches in Florida’s St. Johns County remained open to record crowds through most of March, despite mounting concerns raised by the county’s medical examiner and residents. While many states were issuing directives to residents to stay home in March, officials in St. Johns County, home of St. Augustine, kept beaches open, even as the county’s medical examiner repeatedly said the county couldn’t handle a deadly outbreak, according to emails obtained by Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and reviewed by The Washington Post. (Kornfield, 5/3)