Drew Dixon
The number of coronavirus cases in Duval County showed a significant spike from Sunday to Monday with 475 people infected with the illness, according to Florida Department of Health data released Monday.
The Jacksonville COVID-19 case count is up by 62 over Sunday’s figure of 413. Out of those cases, 13 are among people who are not residents of Duval County. The remaining 462 people infected live in Jacksonville.
A total of 7,827 people have been tested for the illness in Jacksonville. Out of those, 7,352 tests have returned negative, the DOH said.
The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Duval County has held steady since Thursday. There have been nine fatalities because of the infection since Thursday. All the victims who have died in Jacksonville were in their 80s with six of them being male and three female.
The jump in Jacksonville cases of coronavirus comes as the City Council approved a small-business lending program to help deal with the outbreak and its impact on local businesses. The measure calls for up to $26 million in relief.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry in a facebook post said the proposal, which was drafted about two weeks ago and formulated in partnership with Jacksonville-based VyStar Credit Union, could bring much needed relief.
“This provides a combination of grants, interest payments and potential aid toward the principal of the loan, with some elements tied to employee retention,” Curry said.
The city’s website spelled out some of the stipulations.
“To qualify, a business must have between two to 100 employees in addition to business owners. The business must have at least one year in operations and provide the most recent year’s filed tax returns,” the site reads.
Across Florida, the DOH reported 13,324 cases of the novel coronavirus. Out of those, 236 died while another 1,592 people have been hospitalized.
Nationally, 338,995 cases have been reported across the United States. Out of those, 9683 people have died from the illness.
