Dear Voter from Precinct 608:
Yesterday around 3:00PM I was notified by one of our poll workers that they had been positively diagnosed with Covid-19. This individual worked Election Day (March 17, 2020) at Precinct 608 at Freedom Christian Fellowship Church which is located at 3423 Loretto Rd. All our Poll Workers were prescreened by their managers and were told not to come in if they had any flu/cold symptoms. The Poll Worker told me they had no symptoms and felt perfectly fine on Election Day. The individual reported experiencing symptoms six days after Election Day. The poll worker was tested for the virus on March 27th and received a positive test result on March 30th.
The purpose of this letter is to inform you and the other 359 voters who voted at this location on March 17th that they should take appropriate steps and seek the counsel of a medical advisor. If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, dry cough or difficulty breathing, please self-isolate and contact a medical provider immediately.
All my staff members as well as other poll workers who were at this location are being notified of the situation and are also advised to take the appropriate steps. The name of the worker diagnosed with the virus will not be disclosed due to privacy concerns.
For further information, please contact:
Mike Hogan, Supervisor of Elections
MHogan@coj.net
March 9, 2020
Dear Duval County Voters:
Our office is concerned about the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its potential impact on our community, elections volunteers, employees and the voting process. We continue to monitor the virus impact from official sources and at the right time will be implementing the prudent measures as advised by public health officials, specifically the Florida Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (commonly known as the CDC).
We have already delivered sanitary wipes to all our Early Voting sites and will deliver the same products to our Precinct sites on Election Day. The wipes will be available to the public and our employees to wipe down surfaces like pens and styluses and voting booths every hour or so.
Just this past week I was on a Conference call with Homeland Security and the CDC. There were 100's of Election officials from all over the nation on the call and we were given advice and answers to our questions. All are doing much the same as our County.
The Florida’s elections process is governed by Florida Statutes and any major changes to the process would be determined by the Governor and communicated through the Florida Department of State. To change any election process e.g., extend Election Day hours, order polls to close, call for an all-mail election etc. would be under the jurisdiction of the Governor’s office. The State Department Division of Elections has been in touch with all County Supervisors of Elections.
In addition, our office comes under the jurisdiction of the Consolidated City of Jacksonville and we will adhere to any official orders from the Mayor’s office and/or the Duval County Health Department and the City’s Emergency Operations Center.
I hope this answers your question about our office’s position on COVID-19.
Yours very truly,
Mike Hogan