JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Late on Sunday, March 1, the coronavirus pandemic we’d heard about in China, then Italy, then Washington State made its presence known in Florida.
In a 29-word tweet, the Florida Department of Health announced two presumptive cases: a 29-year-old Tampa-area woman who had recently traveled to Italy and a 63-year-old Manatee County man who had contact with someone who tested positive.
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That night, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a public health emergency.
Five days later, Florida had six coronavirus patients and reported its first two deaths attributed to COVID-19.
While the state opened a coronavirus hotline and warned against traveling to hot spots for the disease around the world, DeSantis said the virus represented little risk to Florida.
“Despite these cases, the overall threat to the public remains low," he said.
Neither the governor nor President Donald Trump believed projections that COVID-19 cases would explode over the next several weeks.
The disease first touched the First Coast on March 10 when a 68-year-old man in Nassau County, who had recently visited Germany, was diagnosed. Two days later a tourist from New York who was staying in St. Johns County on his way to Bike Week in Daytona was hospitalized with COVID-19. The next day, an 83-year-old male resident at an adult living facility in Deerwood was the first person diagnosed in Jacksonville. He later died of the disease.
Suggestions to social distance and frequently wash your hands came quickly and easily. Then, large gatherings and school field trips were canceled. Then children were told not to return to the classrooms after spring break.
On April 1 -- 30 days after those first two cases were confirmed in Florida -- the Department of Health reported 7,773 positive cases in the state. That’s also the day Florida became the 34th state in the nation to institute a stay-at-home order.
While only 3% of Floridians have tested positive with this virus, the closing of schools and non-essential businesses for months to enforce social isolation touched all of us, some in devastating ways.
Three million Floridians have filed unemployment claims since the pandemic began and the jobless rate jumped from 4.4% in March to 11.3% in July.
The demand at food banks has grown exponentially and businesses have donated supplies to try and help area nonprofits keep up. DeSantis has now extended the ban on evictions and foreclosures a fourth time to keep people in their homes, but that has to expire at some point and thousands of people will face difficult choices.
Six months after those first two cases were identified in Florida, the state has reported 623,471 residents or people visiting the state have tested positive for the disease, 38,495 have been hospitalized and 11,331 have died, according to the Department of Health.
Even in Northeast Florida -- which has not suffered nearly the impact as some portions of the state -- more than 50,000 people have contracted the virus over the last six months and more than 500 of our neighbors have died.
Watching those numbers grow each day, we’ve reported on those who have died and those who have recovered in our community, people helping those who couldn’t help themselves, efforts to limit the spread and controversies over whether our leaders are doing enough or too much to contain the virus. All along the way we’ve tried to give context to the data, especially when the number of infections surged in June and July, followed by way too many deaths to comprehend on many days in August.
Recently, we’re glad to be able to report there seems to be a downward trend in cases, deaths and the rate of people testing positive. Yet dozens of Floridians are still dying of this virus each day.
Also, remember that we thought we’d “flattened the curve” around Memorial Day.
Please don’t ease up. Protect yourself, your family and your community as best you can as we continue to recover from this pandemic together.