- April 16, 2024
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Flagler County residents appear to have "complied overwhelmingly" with social distancing guidelines, and the county is preparing for the easing of some restrictions in order to restart the economy, County Administrator Jerry Cameron said in a press conference April 22.
"I implore all businesses to please work with our Health Department and work with our Emergency Management office in order to comply and to allow us to continue to relax regulations, so that we can once again be a Flagler community that moves freely."
— JERRY CAMERON, Flagler County administrator
"If we kill our economy, we are going to be in a serious situation," he said. "The very character of our community depends on the mom-and-pop organizations and restaurants and things that make Flagler County what it is; those businesses are suffering, and we have to take measures to see if we can bring them back online. I expect the state to be making imminent announcements on the right to relax some of the provisions that they have in place, and our businesses need to be ready for that."
Much of the decision-making on reopening will happen at he state level, Palm Coast Fire Chief Jerry Forte said during a Palm Coast Virtual Town Hall April 22.
"Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order 20-91 is said to expire on April 30, and what it’s going to look like after that, we don’t know yet," Forte said. "We don’t know how long Phase One will be. ... It all depends on what the criteria are inside of Phase One, that we hit those benchmarks before we move to the next phase. Certainly, you don’t want to open the floodgates — you don’t want to have everybody just rush right out. But if we can do it in a controlled manner and we do it in a methodical way, we can then look at opening up the city in the best way possible."
As things open up, Flagler Department of Health-Flagler Medical Director Stephen Bickel said during the Virtual Town Hall, increased testing will be critical.
"We need to be finding basically every symptomatic case, using it as kind of a sentinel indicator that the spread might be increasing," he said.
Cameron noted that although COVID-19 is very dangerous for some, most people don't seem to have such vulnerability to it, and some protocols that were implemented based on initial information may no longer be appropriate.
For instance, he said, being outside at distances of greater than 6 feet from other people doesn't seem to be a major danger, so the county has partially opened some parks and trails — and beaches, for exercise during limited hours in the morning and evening — and has seen "a very high level of compliance" with social distancing guidelines, Cameron said.
"Consequently, we anticipate that if this experience goes the way we believe it will go, then we will be able to relax additional restrictions and maybe tighten up on some of the things that we know are harmful," he said. "We are on the doorstep of returning to normal — or, at least, the new normal."
The county, Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said, will advise businesses on social distancing measures.
"This is an experiment that’s going on all over the world. Every country is dealing with this, and you’re walking a line between opening things up and then risking contagion — you’ve got to really watch what you’re doing; there’s no perfect solution."
— DR. STEPHEN BICKEL, medical director, Florida Department of Health-Flagler
"Now that evidence is mounting that the virus causing COVID-19 can be spread by people without symptoms, I implore any currently open businesses, and those of you that will begin to open soon, to require both your employees and customers to wear cloth face coverings and maintain 6 feet or greater social distancing when interacting with others, including coworkers," Lord said. "Please, help us protect our entire community."
He noted that although modeling from the University of Washington shows that Florida has already reached its peak for COVID-19 hospital needs, "It does not means that we are out of the woods, as the model assumes that social distancing measures remain in place through at least June 1."
"We must hold strong and ensure strict application of social distancing and cloth face coverage usage when interacting with others for the foreseeable future," Lord said.
Antibody tests, if they become available, will help the community plan reopening, said Bob Snyder, the administrator of the Florida Department of Health-Flagler.
"We certainly hope that antibody testing, what we call surveillance testing, becomes available en masse," Snyder said. "... The results of the antibodies tests will help us make these decisions about opening up the economy and businesses in a smart way."
