Jayne O'DonnellUSA TODAY
Data from health technology company Kinsa, which did the analysis using its digital thermometers, show the number of people with flu-like illness — atypical fever and symptoms — began dropping almost immediately after mandatory social distancing measures were implemented in some areas.
Flu-related illness in California's Santa Clara County, for example, have dropped by more than 60% since a March 17 shelter-in-place order. At the same time, Miami-Dade County's level of flu-like illness has been going up. State and local governments in Northern California took earlier and more aggressive action than in South Florida.
"We have been trying to engage with CDC and BARDA and we have not had a positive response from them about working together," said Seidenberg, referring also to the Health and Human Services division that works on biomedical preparedness. "We think this is very important at the federal and at the state level to show where the hot spots are."
CDC declined to comment on why it wasn't working with Kinsa, but said in a statement it "appreciates the efforts of so many companies working across the private sector to address this new threat."
"We know it will take the breadth of federal and industry partners to combat this virus," said CDC.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday it is collaborating with CDC to better identify hot spots for infection, as well as prevent infections in hospitals and nursing homes.
Kinsa's kind of real-time data is critical to controlling viruses like the one that causes COVID-19, said Dr. Nirav Shah, a former health commissioner for New York state and an advisor to Kinsa.
One local bar owner said he was "going to go bankrupt" and Regan wasn't going to "make a difference doing this in a small area."
It's too early to say whether Regan's actions contributed to the decline in flu-like illness that began almost immediately in St. Johns County. There are 14,000 people in St. Augustine and 250,000 in the county.
"The question is, 'Is it working enough?'" asked Singh. "I can't tell you that, but I can tell you we are flattening the curve."