Certain communities in Florida face greater health challenges than others, according to former Florida Surgeon General and CDC Deputy Director Doctor Celeste Philip.

Leon Haley, the late UF Health CEO who died in a personal watercraft accident in July 2021, was one of several Jacksonville-area leaders recognized Tuesday at the OneJax Humanitarian Awards event.

The late Doctor Leon Haley was honored by President Joe Biden, according to a statement by Haley’s son, Grant.

Just when it looked like we had the pandemic on its heels, the cases surge and the delta variant of the coronavirus takes root in our region. The leader of the Civic Council joins this edition of “This Week in Jacksonville,” along with the leader of Ascension St. Vincent’s. And the late Dr. Leon Haley’s impact and legacy here in Jacksonville -- other leaders and his friends remember him.

Vaccinations are one of the hottest topics locally and nationally this week with the resurgence of the virus due to the delta variant.

During a telephone conference with city and state leaders Friday, leadership at UF Health Jacksonville reported a sobering statistic.

UF Health CEO Dr. Leon Haley said Thursday he anticipates the Jacksonville Jaguars will be able to safely host more than 65,000 fans for home games when the season kicks off this fall.

The CEO of UF Health Jacksonville on Thursday stressed the importance of getting teens vaccinated.

Even as Jacksonville sees a drop in COVID-19 cases, medical experts are warning the community that they’re not out of the woods just yet.

Health experts from the Jacksonville area talked about the medical challenges. “From a physician standpoint, one of the big challenges is the nature of this virus,” said Dr. Leon Haley with UF Health Jacksonville. “The role of the Black church has to be very sensitive to mental health challenges, as well as health challenges across the spectrum,” said Rev. Holmes is part of a statewide task force to educate people and get more minorities vaccinated. It’s a task force that has local ties with vaccinations at Edward Waters College and a door-to-door awareness campaign.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More women in Duval County are coming down with COVID-19 than men, which goes against the national trend. That was one finding announced Thursday by the head of UF Health Jacksonville. Another important note UF Health Jacksonville CEO Dr. Leon Haley said even if you’ve gotten both doses of the vaccine, you can still carry the virus in your nose -- and that’s why it’s critical you still wear a mask. For 10 months, UF Health has been sharing with City Council and other elected officials about what the pandemic is doing in Jacksonville. Haley said so far, most people who have reactions or symptoms after vaccination are getting those after the second dose.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville will be forced to close down two city-run COVID-19 vaccine sites at the end of the day Thursday if it doesn’t receive more doses. During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said the city sites will exhaust vaccine supply by the end of the day Thursday, and it’s unclear when those sites will be able to reopen. “Please understand that the city of Jacksonville does not control the supply chain and what’s available. MORE | State data shows 45K Floridians overdue for second shot of COVID-19 vaccineCurry said the entire state received 275,000 units of the vaccine last week. “So the good news is we are starting to see a little bit of a turn in how hospitals and hospitalizations that are occurring across the city,” Haley said.

Orlando civil rights icon Pappy Kennedy was honored during an annual prayer breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations will be held in Jacksonville on Friday morning. The city of Jacksonville is inviting the community to celebrate the life, legacy and service of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 34th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast presented by Florida Blue. The event is free but those interested in virtually attending the event should pre-register for a digital ticket. The Jacksonville Branch NAACP, SCLC, AAMLC and former Mayor Alvin Brown will host the 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Empowerment Virtual Breakfast at 8 a.m. Friday.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the third year in a row, Jacksonville will have two large breakfasts to honor Martin Luther King Junior Friday morning. The city is holding one and local civil rights groups are hosting the other. Local civil rights activists group said city officials were shutting them out of planning the breakfast event. Some choose to see the split as a positive because it means there are twice as many opportunities to honor Martin Luther King Jr. The City of Jacksonville MLK BreakfastDuval County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene is one of the panelists for the city’s 34th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast.

Orlando civil rights icon Pappy Kennedy was honored during an annual prayer breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations will be held in Jacksonville on Friday morning. The city of Jacksonville is inviting the community to celebrate the life, legacy and service of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 34th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast presented by Florida Blue. The event is free but those interested in virtually attending the event should pre-register for a digital ticket. The Jacksonville Branch NAACP, SCLC, AAMLC and former Mayor Alvin Brown will host the 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Empowerment Virtual Breakfast at 8 a.m. Friday.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Eleven months after the earliest recorded case of coronavirus in the United States, the first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived Monday morning at UF Health Jacksonville and the first 10 shots were quickly administered to emergency room and intensive care workers, including the medical center’s CEO. Pfizer’s COVID19 vaccine shipment from Michigan arrived around 9:15 a.m. Jacksonville’s vaccine supply was transported in freezer packs along with 3 million other vials set to be delivered across the country. News4Jax spoke with African Americans in Jacksonville about the new vaccine who had mixed feelings about the shot. The first shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine headed out from Michigan Sunday morning. Five of Florida’s largest health systems, including UF Health in Jacksonville, will receive 100,000 doses.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – UF Health Jacksonville received its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday and the first 10 shots will be administered before noon, a spokesperson for the hospital told News4Jax. Chad Neilsen, UF Health Jacksonville director of accreditation and infection prevention, said that once the hospital gets its first shipment, it will start giving vaccines to its high-risk and high-exposure health care workers as soon as possible, including doctors and nurses in the emergency department and those working in the COVID-19 unit. CEO Leon Haley, who is also an emergency physician, will get the first of 10 shots given on Monday. UF Health will also deliver the vaccine to other hospitals in the area. The first shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine headed out from Michigan Sunday morning.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The sixth annual Tony’s Turkey Trot is one holiday transition that was not derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The Thanksgiving Day 5K is about more than just getting ahead of the holiday calories. It’s a memorial run for Tony Meduri, who died years after a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. Meduri’s daughter created the Tony Meduri TBI Fund that holds TBI awareness events year-round, including Tony’s Turkey Trot. All post-race events and the fun run were canceled, and the usual on-site awards were prepared to be mailed to winners and participants instead.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health reported another 2,660 cases of COVID-19 statewide on Friday to bring the state’s total to 711,804 since the pandemic began. The state also reported that Thursday’s positivity rate for new cases was 3.77% -- the lowest daily rate the state has seen since June 8 when it reported a 3.71% positivity rate. For 12 of the last 14 days, the state’s rate of positive COVID-19 tests has remained at or below 5% -- a key threshold watched by state leaders. Clay County has reported 105 deaths and St. Johns County has reported 73 deaths. As of Thursday morning, 23 people with the virus were hospitalized at UF Health, with 10 in the ICU and two on ventilators.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With 13 additional coronavirus-related deaths reported in Jacksonville on Thursday, Duval County has now seen a total of 407 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic hit Florida in March. Statewide, the Florida Department of Health reported 133 additional deaths Thursday related to COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 14,619 in about seven months. Clay County reported three additional deaths, and Alachua, Columbia and Nassau counties each reported one. Of the 19 Northeast Florida deaths added Thursday, the youngest was a 48-year-old Clay County woman and the oldest was a 94-year-old Jacksonville man. In Duval County, 118 new COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. After the metropolitan area served by UF Health Jacksonville has seen about 40,000 cases of COVID-19 and 415 associated deaths in six months, the CEO of the medical center shared his experience on what hospitals in the area have seen and what might be coming this fall. More than 26,000 of those cases and 259 deaths have been in Duval County. But what we dont talk a lot about: we had actually almost 500 people that have survived and gone home and back to their normal lives. We have a nice follow-up system in our clinic system for them to be seen so we can continue to recover.Haley also said there are six clinical trials going on in Jacksonville now. As of Thursday, there are 43 COVID-19 patients at UF Health Jacksonville.

Opponents of wearing masks claim they deprive the body of oxygen. She said wearing a mask does nothing to protect people from COVID-19 and stood by her statement on Monday in a brief phone interview with News4Jax. States like California are airing Public service announcements urging people to wear masks and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry tweeted this morning: Wear the damn mask.Wear a mask. He stressed that wearing the mask is safer than not wearing one. So, is wearing a mask for a long period of time harmful to your health?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The Florida Department of Health on Friday morning reported yet another record increase in COVID-19 cases in Duval County, St. Johns County and statewide. The Florida data released Friday marked the ninth day in a row with an increase near or exceeding 3,000 cases. The numbers Thursday also showed record increases in coronavirus cases for both Duval and St. Johns counties for the second day in a row. Duval is up to 4,171 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 447 cases in a single day. St. Johns Countys confirmed cases were up by 83 to a total of 682.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On “This Week in Jacksonville,” leaders in the medical community talked about preparing for and now dealing with a pandemic. The show also looked at how campaigning in a presidential election year just got a lot more complex due to the coronavirus. Dr. Leon Haley, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville, described how area hospitals are coming together to fight the health care crisis. Moe Vela, former senior advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, explained how the worldwide health crisis affects the upcoming election. And News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney, head of Jacksonville University Public Policy, broke down how public officials have responded.