OCALA, Fla.-The Department of Health in Marion County is reporting 655 cumulative cases of COVID-19 as of this afternoon; 340 of those cases were added within the past two weeks. Because of this substantial increase in cases, residents need to take extra care with Fourth of July celebrations and activities in the coming days.
“Ultimately, we do not want to see a surge in cases linked to Fourth of July celebrations,” said Florida Department of Health in Marion County Administrator Mark Lander. “So, however you celebrate, do so responsibly by practicing social distancing, wearing a mask if you can’t socially distance, avoiding large gatherings, and staying home if you are sick,”
Residents are also advised to avoid the three C’s: closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places with many others nearby, and close-contact settings, such as close-range conversation. The risk of COVID-19 spreading among a group of people is highest when the three C’s overlap. Continue reading
OCALA, Fla. (June 23, 2020) – City of Ocala business offices will be closed Friday, July 3 in observance of Independence Day. There will be no changes to the residential or commercial sanitation schedule.
For those looking to beat the heat over the holiday, the City of Ocala Aquatic Fun Centers are open Mondays through Saturdays, for two daily swim sessions, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Pools are closed Sundays due to facilitate current cleaning and sanitation measures. Admission is $2 per child and $3 per adult, each session.
The City of Ocala Splash pads, Lily’s Splash Pad, 2200 NW 17 Pl. and Citizens’ Circle Splash Pad, 160 E Fort King St., are open daily, sunrise to sunset daily.
The City’s online services, including online municipal services bill pay and payment kiosks, will be available to the public over the holiday.
Last month I ran some pictures of flowers and ask that some of readers to share. Angelina Ahrem sharing a picture of her Flowers.
I call this picture Libby’s Hawks. Libby’s husband Dave sent us the picture. This is a photo of two Red Shoulder hawks that Libby Neuharth took. They show up every day and perch on the bird bath. I think they are really lucky to be that closed to nature within the City limits.
By Christy Jergens, Florida Department of Health in Marion County
While the Florida Department of Health in Marion County is heavily focused on responding to COVID-19 in the community currently, the department provides a wide array of programs and services to benefit residents. Read below for more information on what’s offered outside of COVID-19 testing.
The Florida Department of Health in Marion County provides community, environmental and personal health services for Marion County residents. Community health work include epidemiology (contagious disease investigation, reporting and prevention), tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment, health education, and public health preparedness. Preparedness efforts include actions to protect the health of Florida’s residents and visitors from the effects of man-made and natural disasters. As part of these preparedness efforts, the department staffs and operates the county’s special needs shelters in the event of a local state of emergency (such as a hurricane). Community health work also includes the registering and issuing of Florida birth and death certificates. Continue reading
Pictured is Alana Bartram opening the door for a customer. Alana and her husband Chris own and operate the Lady Lake Discount Beverage store on 441 downtown Lady Lake.
Picture left Bill Marshall and right George Marshall Standing in front of their store and saying yes we are open!
Pictured is the front of Bob’s coin & Jewelry, They have made some great provisions for receiving customers safely. Call for an appointment. 352-347-7900 (see page 16)
Dennis McGee owner operator of Mr. Handyman of Lady Lake on 441 says “We’re open and ready to roll!!”
by A.J.(Tony) Powell
Math is not my thing!
It’s interesting/unfortunate to see how ‘selective’ we are when watching/reading the ‘news’!
Our newspapers, television channels, magazines, radio stations are slanted towards the right or the left- Republican or Democrat.
At the same time, we, their reader/viewers, choose to get our news from a medium which agrees with our own biased Point-Of-View. So ‘facts’ are difficult to find.
COVID 19- Where are we now? Where are we going?
Some sources report about 1.5 million infections in the United States alone since January of this year. But, of course we need to know “Is that the whole truth?”
Don’t we need to know “How many people have been tested?” Continue reading
Dear Friends,
We are finally beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. For the last three months, and three columns, COVID-19 issues have dominated our conversations. As this is being written, however, the State of Florida has begun it’s re-open plan and we are seeing good signs that we will be fully back on track soon.
Three months ago, No one could have accurately predicted where we would be at today with this virus. Some said it would last three weeks and once warmer weather came, it would be gone. Others said it would be years before we could safely leave our homes as we wait for a vaccine. Neither has turned out to be true. Three months ago, predictions for Florida were dire. Hundreds of thousands of cases, tens of thousands of death, hospitals failing, this was what we were being told would happen in a best-case scenario. None of that looks to be true. Statewide, hospital capacity never went above fifty percent and thousands of ventilators remained unused. Continue reading
The following is a review of just some of the ways the CEP is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Get. Gather. Go.
The CEP ran a marketing campaign around the Paycheck Protection Program called Get. Gather. Go. We were seeking to GET our businesses informed on the program; encouraging them to GATHER the needed documents; and to GO apply. And apply they did! After the first round of funding, we determined that 1 in 8 Marion County businesses received a PPP loan. That compares extremely favorably to the state (1 in 25) and national (1 in 19) rates. All told, approximately 2800 businesses received nearly $300 million in funding in the first round.
The second round of funding is still live but antidotally it appears that most eligible businesses are finding success. We have been in regular communication with our lenders who have done a phenomenal job literally working around the clock to meet the needs of the local business community. We anticipate that when this round is finished, something approaching 25% of all local businesses (not just eligible businesses but all businesses) will have received a PPP loan. Continue reading
By TomL
They worry about China, Russia and other countries manipulating our elections! What about our food source, our water supply, our medical supplies, our power grid and manipulation of our oil supply.
I am hearing we have a shortage of Beef product for Wendy’s restaurant because at the slaughter house processing plants many employees tested positive to COVID-19 and there is a shortage of workers, so they closed the plants. The Smithfield meat processing plants supplies a large portion of USA meats. They are owned by a Chinese Holding Company.
Let me ask because no one else is. Why are so many employees sick and testing positive at the Smithfield meat processing facility? Is the meat OK? Why are we importing beef when we have plenty cattle of in this country? To Nikki Fried (Democrat) the head of Agriculture, don’t let any other country own our food sources or our processing source. Continue reading
