Renzo Downey
Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey announced three confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, including one death, in the state’s capital city Wednesday.
Those cases are the first in Leon County, apart from one resident who was infected outside of the state. The Mayor made the announcement late Wednesday on Twitter.
“Our increased testing capacity and social distancing efforts are vitally important to slowing the spread of the virus and ultimately saving lives,” Dailey wrote in a tweet.
A spokesman for the Mayor said the one fatality was transferred from a South Georgia hospital and could not confirm whether he or she was a Tallahassee resident. One confirmed case is self-isolating after testing positive at the Capital Regional Medical Center while the other is still in the emergency room there.
As of 7 p.m., the Department of Health (DOH) reported 328 Florida cases of COVID-19, including 29 nonresidents.
The Tallahassee death would be at least the ninth death in the state.
Eight Leon County residents had been tested according to DOH. With private facilities now conducting coronavirus, there may be lags in reporting to the twice-daily updated DOH count.
In the county, four cases returned negative, one returned positive, and three were still pending by the 7 p.m. update.
We have just learned of three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tallahassee, with one of those individuals deceased. Our increased testing capacity and social distancing efforts are vitally important to slowing the spread of the virus and ultimately saving lives.
— Mayor John E. Dailey (@MayorOfTLH) March 19, 2020
