As COVID-19 vaccines continue to be distributed across the nation, the White House Coronavirus Task Force is urging states to continue and even expand testing. In its most recent report to date, the task force called on Florida to require weekly testing for all teachers of grades kindergarten through 12. The report encourages required testing on college campuses as well, but in addition to teachers, suggests students be included. He said the campus has been doing aggressive testing since spring, but in December, the university started requiring weekly tests for those on campus after break. Classes at the University of North Florida have already begun after it strongly recommended students get tested before returning.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and White House Coronavirus Task Force saying Jacksonville is in the red zone when it comes to the coronavirus, local hospitals say the number of COVID-19 patients here has dipped slightly. A recent report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force says Florida and Duval County are in the midst of a full COVID-19 resurgence, and in turn management at several Jacksonville hospitals acknowledged they have been dealing with the surge. But Chad Neilsen, infectious disease director for UF Health Jacksonville, said the numbers are leveling out in the last two days. “I do think largely the Mayor’s Office extending the mask mandate across Duval County helped,” Neilsen told News4Jax. Across Baptist Health’s five facilities throughout Northeast Florida, there are 177 COVID-19 patients, 36 of them in the ICU.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida is in “full COVID-19 resurgence,” according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s latest report, which also predicts more deaths to come. Ron DeSantis, also said most areas of the state are seeing an increased spread of the virus. The report puts Duval County in the red zone, meaning Jacksonville, like most of the state, is seeing more than 100 cases per 100,000 population. “Florida has seen an increase in new cases, test positivity, and hospitalizations and is in full COVID-19 resurgence,” the report said. The task force is also warning about the rapid spreading variant of the virus identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A White House Coronavirus Task Force report for Florida recommended stricter measures for stopping the virus including mask wearing at all times in public, increased physical distancing by reducing capacity or closing indoor spaces at restaurants and bars and limiting gatherings outside of immediate households. Ron DeSantis has ruled out further business restrictions or a mask mandate aimed at stopping the virus’ spread. The White House Coronavirus Task Force is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, and Dr. Deborah Birx serves as its response coordinator. The lawsuit filed last week in state court in Tallahassee seeks the immediate release of requested and future reports. The Orlando Sentinel began requesting the reports in October, and the governor's office provided three reports after the newspaper involved its attorneys.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida must increase its coronavirus mitigation efforts as “hospitalizations rise and long-term care facilities are again under full threat,” according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s weekly memo that was sent to governors last week. Although there is a Nov. 29 report, the Florida section of that has not been posted publicly. You go back six months, some of those task force folks we’re saying, ‘Uh, we don’t know.’ We did know. They say, ‘Well, you look at New York, your positivity is above some arbitrary thing, you have to close the school.’ Really? You’re going to shut kids out of an education for a metric that is literally pulled out of somebody’s hat?

Health officials had asked workers in central Auckland to stay home on Friday while they investigated the case but say they can now return to work. — Surge of coronavirus cases appears to be slowing in Germany and France, but still straining hospitals. Alaska has had over 20,000 cases, including 477 new cases reported Thursday. She is scheduled Friday to address the situation and is expected to announce new public health restrictions aimed to curbing spread. That’s the impassioned message that dozens of parents and school administrators are sending to public health officials in Pennsylvania’s third-most populous county.

Ron DeSantis on Friday said he is not closing gyms because he thinks people who go to them are even less at risk for the coronavirus because they are staying healthy and working out. I think taking that option away for people to be healthy just doesnt make sense, the Republican governor said during a news conference in Apopka. The July 14 document, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit newsroom, said bars and gyms should be closed in red zone states. A red zone refers to a location that recorded more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week, or a positivity rate above 10 percent. Florida had 308 new cases per 100,00 population in the past week, compared to a national average of 119 per 100,000, according to the document.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. According to data released Saturday from the Florida Department of Health, Florida has now reported 337,569 coronavirus cases and 5,002 COVID-19 related deaths of Florida residents and visitors since the pandemic began. According to Saturdays state data, an additional 90 coronavirus-related deaths were reported statewide, ending a streak of four consecutive days of more than 100 deaths. Duval County has now reported 15,903 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began with 470 hospitalizations and 93 deaths related to COVID-19. So far for the month of July, Florida has reported 185,135 cases in 18 days, averaging over 10,285 cases a day. Floridas single-day record for new cases, reported last Sunday, remains at 15,300.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s likely not many in the United States knew who Dr. Anthony Fauci was. In his younger years, Fauci reportedly would run for seven miles a day. When he was in midst of the fight against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Fauci was known to run 7 miles daily. Recently, a video from a 1988 presidential candidate debate between then-Vice President Bush and Michael Dukakis emerged. Bush: "Fauci ...top doctor at NIH, working hard doing something about research on this disease of AIDS" @HowardMortmanpic.twitter.com/tyDPRNuFcJ — David I. Ramadan (@DavidIRamadan) March 21, 20203.)