White House Coronavirus Task Force report puts Duval County in the red zone

“Florida has seen an increase in new cases, positive testing and hospitalizations and is in full resurgence from COVID-19,” said the report. “Almost all metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 people are in full resurgence and aggressive action is expected to serve this increasingly widespread community in our large metropolitan areas. Metro that continued to improve after Thanksgiving is now destabilizing. “

READ: January 10 White House Coronavirus Task Force Report in Florida

This week, Florida became the third state to approve 1.5 million cases of COVID-19 and saw a 66% increase in new cases in the past week.

The task force is also warning about the variant of rapid spread of the virus identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 76 cases identified in Florida, 22 of them were found in Florida.

In addition to the rapid immunization of the elderly population and those with underlying health problems, the team is recommending stronger, more focused messages to the public.

“Florida must increase state and local public mitigation. Increase communication around the importance of personal mitigation with masking, physical distance and avoiding family reunions, ”said the report.

The report said that while increasing vaccinations is a no-brainer, it also emphasized the importance of ongoing proactive testing.

He further recommends that all K-12 teachers, older students and those at colleges and universities be required to take the weekly test, as this dramatically reduces the spread of the virus in these places and lessens the need for contact screening.