Drew Dixon
Jacksonville’s tally of coronavirus cases breached 300 Friday coming to a total of 306 victims infected with the illness.
The Florida Department of Health coronavirus internet “dashboard” shows Duval County added 20 new confirmed cases overnight. While the total number is up, fatalities held steady at nine. Jacksonville jumped to that number Thursday night which was double the amount from Wednesday.
Still, there were 37 people hospitalized with the illness in Jacksonville, that’s up by one from Thursday. A total of 5,509 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Duval County with 5,203 of those coming back negative.
The increased number of cases came on the day that Jacksonville is instituting the “Stay Safer at Home,” executive order that Mayor Lenny Curry signed this week. It coincides with the “Safe At Home” order instituted by Gov. Ron DeSantis as well.
The state’s order paralleling local directives has caused some confusion in the state as to who has jurisdiction during the crises and outbreak of coronavirus. DeSantis, though, clarified that local municipalities can add to the order as they see fit.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville is getting some help from one of its more prominent businesses. The Bacardi rum manufacturing facility in Duval County is now co-opting its operations to help stem the spread of the illness.
Bacardi officials have agreed to use its alcohol distillery to produce hand sanitizer to keep residents clean in hopes of stemming the spread of the illness. The sanitizer is already in the hands of those who need it.
“JaxReady staff were able to distribute the much-needed hand sanitizer produced by the local distributor to several medical facilities,” said a statement on Jacksonville’s city government website.
Across Florida, there are now 9,008 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 144 of those ending in fatalities. Another 1,167 people have been hospitalized in the Sunshine State.
About 82,000 tests administered in Florida have come back negative.
Nationally, 245,658 have been confirmed to have coronavirus. Of those, 6,058 people have died.
