How many COVID-19 boxes were in your zip code?

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – An average of one in 16 people in Florida tested positive for coronavirus this year. But these cases were not evenly distributed across the state. We know that long-term care facilities and prisons have been hit hard. And while South Florida and urban areas showed the majority of cases at the start of the pandemic, the number of cases has increased somewhat in much of the state.

The Florida Department of Health began adding a postal code to its COVID-19 panel months ago, but with cases growing beyond initial expectations, the vast majority of the map is the same color: red.

News4Jax just updated our analysis of where COVID hit hardest in greater Jacksonville, finding most cases in Northeast Jacksonville, Southside, East Arlington, Jacksonville Beach and parts of Westside – all with infection rates equal to or above the state average. The highest concentration of cases was in 32202, which has a smaller population than many zip codes, but includes Duval County Prison and TIAA Bank Field Lot J, where the city’s largest COVID-19 test site was located in first months of the pandemic. (Sometimes, cases are initially listed on the CEP where the person was tested and some have never been updated.)

In Clay County, while postal codes that include Orange Park, Fleming Island and Middleburg have the most cases, southeast Clay, including Green Cove Springs, has the most cases per capita.

In St. Johns County, the northwest, Ponte Vedra Beach and an area south of St. Augustine have the highest number of cases, but the infection rate across all 11 county zip codes is below the state average.

The area of ​​Nassau County that includes Fernandina Beach had the most cases of COVID-19 in the county, but the CEP that includes Yulee had a higher rate of infections – 1 in 16 – corresponding to the state average.

Because of its relatively low population, Baker County is an example of how a large prison can distort statistics. One in seven people out of 3,2087 tested positive for the virus, but that ZIP also includes the Baker Correctional Institution, where 568 cases were counted this year – based on the latest data release from the Department of Corrections earlier this month. This does not mean that the rest of the county has a low infection rate. The 3,2063 area that includes Macclenny – and several long-term care facilities – had one in 13 people counted among the 1.2 million Floridians who contracted the virus.