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By Beth Stibal |

Governor DeSantis Declares Public Health Emergency for COVID19

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is declaring a public health emergency on coronavirus after two people living in the Tampa Bay area had tested “presumptively positive” for COVID 19. They’re from Manatee and Hillsborough counties. Both have been isolated and are receiving medical care. One patient has no travel history the other has recently traveled to Italy, according the health experts.

Also, nearly 200 hundred people in Florida are under public health monitoring for coronavirus. Governor DeSantis will hold news conferences in Tampa and Miami today and will issue an executive order calling for a public health emergency. The first news conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Tampa and another at 2 p.m. at the Florida Department of Health in Miami. While no coronavirus cases have been confirmed in South Florida, City of Miami leaders and emergency managers will also be holding a news conference at 10 a.m.

Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat, fever and a general feeling of being unwell. The public health emergency declaration helps free up government resources to focus on responding to the health situation. Testing for COVID 19 can now be done in state at three locations, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville allowing for results in a matter of hours rather than days. Despite the two cases in Florida, the state maintains that the overall threat to public health “remains low.” https://youtu.be/3eLaWAEoeT4 Read the governor’s executive order by clicking here. Meanwhile, nationwide, public health officials in the state of Washington are confirming the second U.S. death from coronavirus. Vice President Mike Pence stresses that the average American is still at a low risk of getting the virus.