JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said during his virtual news conference Tuesday that “it looks like we may have flattened the curve.”
The mayor continued: “That’ll be more clear to us in the next week to a week and a half when the models tell us we will peak.”
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Curry went on to thank the people in the community for doing their part to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“I’m proud of the people of this city, in this community, in the responsible way that you most of you have acted. I see people socially distancing. I see people wearing masks. I see people taking this seriously,” Curry said.
Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, echoed Curry’s words during a Tuesday news conference alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The mitigation measures are we’re working. We are flattening that curve. Florida has a good story to tell on what’s been working,” Moskowitz said. “We have to stay the course.”
The mayor said he’s as anxious as anyone for people to get back to work.
“My team and I are continuing to monitor information in our executive orders daily to decide whether further action is needed or if it’s time to scale things back,” Curry said. “I had a good call with Gov. DeSantis. We want this economy up and running again. We want people to get back into routines, earning money, get businesses back on their feet. And that’s what we’re working toward, but we have to do it in a way that safe based on the information we have in terms of testing positive and hospitalization admissions.”
RELATED | Mayor: Jacksonville will be ready to restart economy ‘when time is right’ | Curry extends state of emergency; safer-at-home order also still in place
Curry explained that the 30-day extension of the city’s state of emergency was done so that the city can get state and federal funding and reimbursement for costs associated with the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Per the city charter, the emergency can only be imposed for 30 days, so it had to be extended. That extension does not apply to nonessential business closings.
Here are Duval County’s daily new case numbers, dating back to March 25, that show how the numbers climbed, seemingly peaked last week and have been declining.