‘Back to life’: Jacksonville mulls post-coronavirus reality

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. Photo via A.G. Gancarski

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry discussed Thursday “next steps” to resuming more normal life in the city post-coronavirus.

To be sure, the virus continues to take its toll: 769 hospitalizations, 67 hospitalizations, 14 deaths, as of Thursday morning tallies.

Positive tests between 5 and 6%, Curry said, are below most major metros.

The administration is “monitoring Executive Orders every day to see whether further action is needed,” or whether things should be “scaled back,” Curry said.

Curry expressed confidence that the city was at the top of the curve, in terms of hospitalizations.

“We’re going to get back to life,” Curry said, noting that data from the next week will tell the tale.

Northeast Florida has been a relative success story compared to hard-hit South Florida, with Duval County having weathered the coronavirus storm.

The Mayor will roll out a task force to get the city going, modeled after embryonic state level panels to do the same, to “reopen our city in a safe way and get back to work.”

That task force will be familiar names from the “business community,” Curry suggested.

Curry prioritizes “safe” reopening of the economy, with testing available.

He also proposes “moving forward” capital projects, to jumpstart the economy.

Notable: reopening of beaches and parks is being considered along with Mayors of the Beaches communities, Curry said, potentially as soon as next week.

The Jacksonville Jazz Festival, however, is closed, and Curry does not expect mass gatherings of that sort to be allowed in May.

Curry reiterated the statewide “stay at home” order, but said he looks forward to “getting everyone back to work.”

The Mayor’s comments continue a trend of Northeast Florida leaders looking to get past coronavirus and into the recovery.

Earlier this week, commissioners in St. Johns County, directly to the south of Duval County, heard evidence that perhaps the worst of coronavirus is over for them.

County administrator Hunter S. Conrad said there was a “downward trend” in new cases.

“That is good news seeing those numbers begin to flatline,” Conrad said, adding that “further decisions” could be made at the “discretion” of the commission next week, presumably to re-open the county’s beaches.