For Jacksonville, the coronavirus outbreak is a race against time

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry

Thursday saw Jacksonville announce drive-thru testing for coronavirus, as Duval County is now home to 15 cases at last count.

For Jacksonville and Mayor Lenny Curry, the fight against coronavirus is a race against time.

Curry, in response to media questions, did not rule out curfews or even a “full shutdown,” even as he said people seemed to be complying with current guidance.

Two testing sites should be online in a matter of days, and Curry expects the numbers of positives to go up.

Friday will see a city site at the Prime Osborn Center, with eligibility to be determined by telemedicine diagnoses via Telescope Health,. That site may have the capacity to test 150 people a day.

A federal testing site will be at TIAA Bank Field by Saturday. Those showing up for tests before then will be sent away. More of a free-for-all set up, those who want to be tested will need to be displaying symptoms.

“Getting additional testing sites above and beyond what the Department of Health is doing,” Curry said, was a goal in the process of being fulfilled.

However, more existential issues remain ahead for Jacksonville, long after the curve is flattened.

Jobs being furloughed and businesses being shuttered now may not return after the period of self-isolation ends. This will starve individuals and the larger city of revenue.

Another issue will be felt in upcoming budgets, with declines in sales tax collections and likely other metrics, including property taxes, to be realized down the road.

Likewise, a crash in equities will register further stress on the city’s pension debt, with between 7 and 8 percent annual in all pension plans likely proving difficult with equities crashing.

Curry is looking for federal intervention to help those whose jobs disappeared as this virus ramped up, saying he supports a proposal by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott “to expand unemployment insurance and impose a moratorium on mortgage payments, rent, and utility bills.”

Scott, who refused to expand Medicaid as Governor for eight years and who presided over some of the stingiest unemployment payouts in the country, has responded to this crisis by proposing a rarely-seen level of federal intervention.

Curry, likewise a self-styled conservative Republican, advocates for that action. “mitigating the stresspoints for families” in the weeks and months ahead.

“I fully support this proposal … a good idea for our people,” Curry said.

Even as coronavirus continues to menace, local budgeting looms for FY 20-21, and the Mayor is acutely aware that hard choices are ahead.

“It’s a new day. Everything changed. That’s the reality of where we are,” Curry said, noting that projections just a few weeks ago will change.

“Our focus will be the safety of our people and the local economy,” Curry added, but sounding another note of caution if economic conditions continue to worsen globally.

“If the financial systems start to collapse as a result of people missing mortgage payments, rent payments, et cetera,” Curry added, “I believe that makes it catastrophic.”

The city is “financially sound and stable right now,” with “sound” credit and “the ability to sustain this for a period of time.”

“We’re going to plan ahead in a crisis …. make decisions today, next week, and the following week to prevent a catastrophic economic event happening to this city in the next six weeks, a year, two years,” Curry said.