Residents and county officials took a deep breath of relief on June 5 when the state moved to Phase 2 of its reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, many of those same people are struggling just to breathe as the highly contagious disease continues to surge along the First Coast.
The numbers are alarming: 1,396 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since June 25. With a record of 116 positive cases reported in St. Johns County last Monday, it’s only getting worse.
School openings are in doubt. High school sports are on hold. The debate on mandating face coverings has become more pronounced. Fears of a rollback to Phase 1 — or worse — has local merchants worrying about their futures. By now, everyone knows someone who’s been infected.
And nobody is immune.
County Commissioner Paul Waldron is in “the most critical of conditions,” according to his daughter after he fell ill with COVID-19 just a few days after he joined two other commissioners in voting down a resolution to require face coverings in all county buildings.
“My daddy, Paul Waldron, was diagnosed with the COVID virus,” Ashley Waldron Zapata wrote on her father’s Facebook page. “Due to complications from the virus, he went into septic shock and has many organs struggling. He is currently in the most critical of conditions. ... Please keep your family safe and pray for mine.”
The Ponte Vedra High football team also reported some of its players have tested positive. Athletics Director Eric Frank didn’t offer any other details.
Frank and head coach Jeffrey DiSandro reached out to parents on the team’s website. In part, the letter said:
“We have discovered that student-athletes associated with our Football team tested positive for COVID 19. Due to the sensitively of this topic and HIPAA laws and regulations we cannot disclose any individual’s medical records to other student-athletes, parents, or assistant coaches. When faced with this situation we will work with school administration, district office, and our local Department of Health to ensure the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and their families.
Any student-athlete that had close personal contact with the individuals who tested positive has been notified and advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and to contact their healthcare provider if symptoms arise.”
Conditioning workouts for fall sports started on June 15.
“Now we just take it one day at a time,” Frank said.
Frank and DiSandro met with student athletes last Tuesday to talk about precautions … and what’s ahead.
“They’re stressed,” Frank said. “This isn’t going away.”
There were 623 positive cases reported in the county from March 1 to June 24. As of Tuesday afternoon, July 14, there have been nearly 1,400 since, including 587 reported in a seven-day span that ended last Tuesday.
The area in and around Ponte Vedra Beach has more than 500 of the confirmed cases. The ZIP code 32801 for Ponte Vedra, Nocatee and Jacksonville has 164 cases, while 32802 for Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville Beach, Nocatee, Palm Valley and Sawgrass has 330. The only ZIP code in the county with more cases is 32259 with 379 cases, and portions of Nocatee are represented in that area.
In response, the City of St. Augustine passed a resolution that made masks mandatory as of June 27 in public places. Neighboring Jacksonville did the same three days later.
The county and St. Augustine Beach decided against the mandate.
The St. Johns County School Board seemed to favor a two-week delay in the state’s plan to reopen public schools on Aug. 10. Before deciding, the board said it needs to be sure it has the authority to go against the state.
Parents in St. Johns County had until Friday to decide whether their children would attend school five days a week, return to schools with social distancing and facemask requirements, attend virtual schools or take up home schooling.
Superintendent Tim Forson told the school board Tuesday more than 4,800 of the district’s 40,000 students have decided on virtual-based learning.
He also posted a letter to parents on the school board’s website. In part, it read:
“We are working to research the present data and utilize the expertise of health care professionals to determine the most appropriate response to the spread of COVID-19. As many of you are aware, this is a very fluid situation and will likely continue to change during the school year. I believe it is important to recognize these changing conditions and prepare parents, students and staff for a school year that will have to be flexible and adaptable to the current circumstances.”
For high school athletes, there’s even more uncertainty. The Florida High School Athletic Association is scheduled to meet on Monday, July 20, to create a sports schedule to the upcoming year. There are a lot of options, Frank said, including moving football to the spring or playing games without fans.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,994 residents and 25 visitors have tested positive in the county, and 12 of them have died. The age range is from infant to 98 years.
Countywide, there have been 38,241 tests conducted with 26,352 coming back negative, 9,859 coming back inconclusive and 11 awaiting further examination.
