“I grabbed the fire extinguisher and rushed to the forward cabin,” said Ted. “In less than a minute the floor was so hot the paint started to blister. I was bare foot and I couldn’t even go back. Austin was trying to save the cat and the birds. We had five birds. But there was no time.”

If Florida’s House of Representatives Tyler Sirois has it his way, the Florida legislature will soon prohibit boat owners from remaining anchored in the same location for more than 90 days anywhere in the Florida Keys.

This page is updated daily: ONE ADDITIONAL DEATH: FDOH’s report today shows 1 additional Covid-19 related death in Monroe County. There have been 52 deaths to date. NEW CASES: FDOH’s report today shows 14 additional cases of Covid-19 was confirmed for Monroe County yesterday. The cumulative case count is now 7,106. (102 of the 7,106 cases are associated with outbreaks in longterm care facilities and 119 cases are inmates or staff in a Monroe County Detention Center.) After adjustments, cumulative case counts, by location, include 12 more in Key West, 1 more in Key Largo and 1 more in Stock Island.

For both of us, oddly, even more so for me, the last six weeks have been the hardest for me in our entire 15-year marriage. Because I, like a lot of other husbands, I bet, knew it was MY JOB to save my love’s life by getting her a simple life-saving shot…

I don’t know how it’s going elsewhere, but here in Monroe county it has been hell for people like me and my wife Cynthia, ages 72 and 76.

I feel it is my duty to shed some light on how we can do better with the COVID-19 surge in our community. Although masking, distancing, and washing are extremely important in prevention, more than these measures is needed to mitigate the increased community spread. The methods by which we contain this spread are vital to our community. We are 9 months into this pandemic and our community lacks adequate testing, contact tracing, and quarantine resources to reduce the spread. The surge was foreseeable.