The last normal thing Dr. Asal Johnson did before the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in Florida was stand at the front of her classroom at Stetson University with a room full of students.
“I very much miss the environment when we could all work together in class,” said the epidemiology professor. “I find it very challenging and time-consuming to teach subjects such as epidemiology or statistics through Zoom.”
March 7 marked the one-year anniversary of the first case of coronavirus in Volusia County reported on a Saturday night during the first weekend of Bike Week. (It turned out the person never made it to Bike Week, but was in St. Johns County.) The first two cases in Florida were reported on March 1 in Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
Sal Ronci s family members recall the bandleader who died of COVID news-journalonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-journalonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Death has been a grim, constant marker of the ultimate impact of the the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The casualty count is updated daily. Nationally, the death total that approached 334,000 as New Year s week began already dwarfed the casualties of such historic events as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam War.
In Florida, the virus has accounted for the deaths of more than 21,300 Florida residents, a figure that doesn t include more than 300 non-resident deaths. In Volusia County, as of Monday, there have been 430 deaths. In Flagler County, there have been another 48.
Behind each of those numbers is a story.