By Kimberly MillerPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

It was a forgotten lunch that ultimately led to the donation of 900 hand sewn-masks to residents in the Historic Northwest community of

West Palm Beach.Karen Chambers, an assis-

tant professor at Florida A t l a n t i c U n i v e r s i t y ’ s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, was helping set up a new clinic on 8th Street last month when she passed by two homeless men while walking to Publix to replace the lunch she left at home.

They weren’t wearing face masks, a likely low-level

priority for the duo. She stopped another woman in the neighborhood who wasn’t wearing a mask to ask her why.

“She said even if she knew where to buy one, she couldn’t afford it,” said Chambers, who helped give FAU-donated masks to people Sunday at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. “It was either feed her children or buy masks.

That’s when it really got into my brain that we needed to do something.”

The new FAU community health center, which opened in late April a block from the historic 30’s-era Sunset Lounge, is just south of an area with one of the highest number of coronavirus infec-tions in Palm Beach County.

palmbeachpost.com $2

REAL NEWS STARTS HERE

Monday, May 4, 2020

Vol. 112, Issue 65To subscribe: 561-820-4663© Gannett Co., Inc. 2020

@pbpostFacebook.com/palmbeachpost

Like and follow us on social media:Business and Local ...... B1Classifieds ............. C4-5Deaths ......................B4

Lottery ...................... B2Opinion .................... A9Sports ....................... C1

DOLPHINS NEWCOMERS: WHO WILL MAKE AN IMPACT? S P O R T S , C 1

Infection rate slows as reopening stirsMeanwhile, FAU nursing prof leads effort to get masks to underserved communities

Palm Beach Post staff report

LAKE WORTH BEACH — As if economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t enough to keep mayors and city managers up at night, there’s something else for them to worry about.

Lagging response rates to the 2020 U.S. Census in some Palm Beach County cities could result in the loss of millions of

federal dollars to those munici-palities, exacerbating what already figures to be a difficult economic rebound.

Lake Worth Beach officials were optimistic about improving the response rate by 10% over 2010, when they say the city was undercounted by at least 11,000 residents. That translated into an estimated loss of $176 million over a 10-year period.

To meet its goal, the city embarked on an aggressive campaign to promote the census, partnering with sev-eral local organizations to

hold community events aimed at “hard-to-count” popula-tions, including Lake Worth Beach’s sizable population of undocumented immigrants.

But as of Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that only 42% of households in the city had completed the 12-question form. That was considerably below the county-wide average of 54.1% and national response rate of 55.6%, according to the offi-cial tracking data.

Cities’ poor census response may hurt economic reboundUndercount means fewer dollars for municipalities

By Kimberly MillerPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

A f l e e t o f m o r e t h a n 300 boats paraded along the Intracoastal water-way Sunday in support of President Donald Trump with flag-waving spectators cheering from canal banks and seawalls.

The procession, which traveled from Jupiter to

Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach a n d b a c k , w a s d u b b e d “Trumptilla” by some sup-porters, who learned of the pageant through Facebook.

It was the first time in weeks that so many boats were able to launch from mari-nas countywide, which had been closed since late March because of coronavirus.

Trump tweeted a video of the parade, saying “Thank you very much to our beauti-ful ‘boaters.’ I will never let you down.”

‘Trumptilla’: Water parade for prez draws 300 boats

Hundreds of Trump supporters take to the Intracoastal Waterway in a show of support Sunday during a boat parade from Jupiter to Mar-a-Lago. [PHOTOS BY JIM RASSOL/PALMBEACHPOST.COM]

Trump supporters wave as they take part in a boat parade Sunday.

By Hannah Beech, Alissa J. Rubin, Anatoly Kurmanaev and Ruth MacleanThe New York Times

The coronavirus has killed so many people in Iran that the country has resorted to mass burials, but in neigh-boring Iraq, the body count is fewer than 100.

The Dominican Republic has reported nearly 7,600 cases of the virus. Just across the border, Haiti has recorded about 85.

In Indonesia, thousands are believed to have died of the coronavirus. In nearby Malaysia, a strict lockdown has kept fatalities to about 100.

T h e c o r o n a v i r u s h a s touched almost every coun-try on earth, but its impact h a s s e e m e d c a p r i c i o u s . Global metropolises like New York, Paris and London have been devastated, while teeming cities like Bangkok, Baghdad, New Delhi and Lagos have, so far, largely been spared.

The question of why the virus has overwhelmed some places and left others rela-tively untouched is a puzzle that has spawned numerous theories and speculations but no definitive answers. That knowledge could have profound implications for h o w c o u n t r i e s r e s p o n d to the virus, for determining who is at risk and for know-ing when it’s safe to go out again.

Virus is a world riddleContagion devastates some countries, mostly spares others; experts unsure why

Trump tweets support for the vessels, which travel from Jupiter to Mar-a-Lago

See VIRUS, A2See PARADE, A2

See CENSUS, A10

See INFECTION, A10

Palm Beach County: 3,130 cases, 196 deathsFlorida: 36,078 cases, 1,379 deathsU.S.: 1.12 million cases, 65,735 deathsGlobal: 3.5 million cases, 247,000 deaths

Source: Florida Department of

Health, Centers for Disease Control

The coronavirus toll