04/02/2020
This update is from Don Elwell- Highlands County Commisioner
DAILY UPDATE: Wednesday, 4/1:
Forget the Pranks – we were a little too busy! This afternoon was a blur for us all, as the news came fast and furious.
SO much happened today – some we expected, some not so much. Once again, if this were a baseball game, we are likely near the end of the 1st inning. Much more ahead for us…..
Here’s where we stand as of tonight:
21 cases locally…including a tiny infant. As one might expect, our hearts go out to this little one and their family. Things are increasing, and they won’t do anything BUT increase for a few more weeks now.
Another day with over 1,000 new cases in Florida, and we’ve now exceeded 100 deaths statewide. While our overall mortality rate is much lower than even the national rate, it will go up a bit as time progresses. Nearly 60 of our 67 counties now have one case or more, including both Hardee and Okeechobee.
Across the country, we’ve now eclipsed 200,000 positive cases and 5,000 fatalities. Keep in mind we’ve now doubled our number of cases in just FIVE days……..very scary trending.
Worldwide, we will hit the 1-million positive case mark tomorrow…….likely with over 50,000 fatalities. The fatality rate is now over 5% worldwide, which is sobering in and of itself. Italy, in particular, was concerning, as they had more deaths than new cases reported. Good for the new cases, but…….
Recovered? We’ve now got EIGHT thousand recovered…..over 4% of our total.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. MESSAGE FROM EOC:
Please continue to observe social distancing and wash your hands frequently. If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, call your local primary care physician. If you do not have a local primary care physician, call the local Department of Health at 863-386-6060 or Central Florida Health Care at 863-452-3000. Once you have been tested, please self-monitor and self-isolate until you receive your test results.
For general questions about COVID-19, please call 1-866-779-6121 or visit floridahealthcovid19.gov. The call center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The website is updated twice daily at noon and 7 p.m.
Highlands County Board of County Commissioners has established a COVID-19 hotline.
Call 863-402-6800 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT INFO:
• Governor DeSantis issued a satewide ‘Stay-at-Home’ order, limiting all activity outdoors to just ‘Essential Activities’ or driving to/from ‘Essential Businesses’. Seniors…….PLEASE STAY HOME. Have a medical condition? Ditto. Please honor this…….and let’s minimize the spread here in our county / area.
This Order goes into effect at 12:01am on Friday morning.
NOTE Re: The Order
There is absolutely NO reason to stockpile or hoard ANY food or home supplies (toilet paper, soap, etc.). The stores you ould hget these from are ALL “Essential”, and will CONTINUE TO BE OPEN on Friday, and every day afterwards. Please consider ALL of your neighbors, friends and others in yyour community when shopping. Get what you need…..and please observe ALL Social Distancing guidelines as much as possible – don’t flood the stores.
• NEW: All School Board of Highlands County schools are closed and will remained closed to students through May 1, 2020. The district is utilizing distance learning for instructional activities until traditional school classes resume.
• Recycling service in Highlands County is suspended until further notice. For now, those residents serviced by Waste Connections in the unincorporated areas of Highlands County may place trash in both the blue and green bins and place them curbside for collection on their scheduled collection day. THIS IS A “YARD” PICKUP WEEK.
• The School Board of Highlands County is providing no-cost meals through a drive-thru service at all elementary, middle and high school locations to all children 18 and under and ESE students under 22. Meal service is Monday through Friday through the duration of the school closure. Meals will be served from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Two meals will be provided together: lunch for the current day and breakfast for the following day. Children do not need their school ID but must be present at pick up. Children may “walk up” to receive a meal.
OTHER ‘STUFF’:
The Abide 21 Churches are planning a Group Prayer in the parking lots of the four area hospitals (including Hardee) so they can pray for those sick as well as those providing the care and sacrificing so much. Thursday at 6:45pm, at all four locations – pray from the safety of your vehicle. I posted a flyer on the subject earlier today……please attend if you’d like.
Yes, will STILL happen…..just before the ‘Order’ goes into effect.
CRITICAL THINKING LINK: This section will have an article or two daily that I’ve found interesting. I’ll stay clear of partisan politics as much as possible, focusing instead on information that will provoke some thought during this crisis.
Now that we have a statewide order in place, how ELSE can we flatten the curve even more? Masks, perhaps? Sure, it looks apocalyptic if we’re ALL wearing them, but isn’t SOME protection better than none? First priority are the medical professionals, of course, but what if we could all get SOMETHING over our faces? Remember, it’s not for you so much, it’s more for everybody ELSE. Here’s a link to a story on such a crazy idea:
https://www.vox.com/…/coronavirus-covid-face-masks-n95-resp…
Today was beyond hectic, and many folks got into a panic. Understandable, but please try and resist the urge if you can. Look for calmer voices, cooler heads and ask questions before you leap to conclusions or act too hastily……don’t want to see ANYONE put themselves in more danger than they need be.
My thoughts tonight are with those in jobs deemed non-Essential. Let’s do our best to think of creative ways we can help THOSE folks through these difficult next four weeks. I am eager to play a role in that, and share the best ideas we come up with….
Again, let’s work together…..we are SO much stronger that way. Talk to you very, very soon . . . .stay safe!
p.s. I sincerely apologize if I missed a comment or mention today....notifications were coming in faster than I've ever seen. I still have nearly 110 yet to look at, and will do so tonight....but I apologize for the delay.
IMPORTANT: I am unable to share FROM my County Commission page, so these recaps are posted on my campaign and personal pages, which are public. I am limited on my public page, and need to clear out some older 'friends' from outside the area in order to make room for a bunch of requests. That will happen tomorrow. In the meantime, I invite you to please be sure to like / follow any of those pages for the latest updates or info. Thank you -- hope that helps!