JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Lenny Curry has extended Duval County’s mask mandate through at least Jan. 25, News4Jax learned Thursday.
That means everyone over the age of 6 must continue wearing a face mask or face covering while in public indoor spaces, including employees and customers at businesses within city limits. There are, however, exceptions for certain cases such as people dining at a restaurant or a patient visiting the dentist.
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Duval County put the mandate in place in late June after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the recommendation.
Even after getting a vaccine, doctors still ask people to wear masks.
Curry was not working Thursday, but when asked about the mandate a month ago, Curry told News4Jax he is taking this one step at a time.
“We’ll do 30-day increments. I stay in regular contact with physicians and the leaders of our hospital systems. It’s just the right thing to do at this time,” Curry said.
According to the state Department of Health data Thursday morning, 1,234,399 people in Florida have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. and 21,173 residents and visitors have died with the virus. Florida was the third state in the country to hit 1 million cases of COVID-19.
In Duval County, 56,299 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 711 have died.
Many communities like Jacksonville added their own in late spring and early summer, but allowed them to expire. Florida never instituted a statewide mask mandate and Gov. Ron DeSantis has blocked local governments from enforcing their rules.