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A Clay county resident died today from the coronavirus.

The earliest.

A clay county resident died today from the coronavirus... ema director torrey williams says the deceased was an african american man in his 60s with underlying health issues.

Williams is urging residents to take the disease seriously.

Our quentin smith was at the briefing and he joins us live from west point..

Quentin, williams says people are taking the coronavirus lightly??

Yea aundrea to give you an idea of what williams says they're dealing with.

I'm at the basketball court here at zuber park and as you can see, they've taken the rims off the goals, that's because people have been out here trying to play basketball...despit e the shelter in place order that's in effect.

When it comes to the coronavirus, the ema director says people in clay county just don't get it.

" they think that this is a small town and nothing happens here, it won't come here, nothing is going to happen, i'm immune to it, i'm young, i'm there, or i'm bad, but this is a very serious thing."

So far 21 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in clay county.

But williams says people don't seemed to be phased by that alarming number.

In fact, a group of people were recently playing basketball at a local park.

Now the city has removed the rims. " we've had this 21 for a day now, but i expect that number to arrive because people are not taking this thing seriously.

One local death is too many.

But williams is hoping it'll bring more attention to the severity of the disease.

People need to be aware of the things that are going on.

You may not think that it can happen to you, but this debt is in our community.

It's easily spread, and although you think you may be ok and your immune system may be ok, but the next person may not be."

For weeks city and county leaders have been urging residents to take extra precautions and follow guidelines given by the cdc.

Now he's pleading for residents to be more vigilant, if not williams says there will be legal consequences.

" on the law- enforcement side, the sheriffs department and the police department will be giving out summons and taking people to jail if they have to."

Williams says people old and young have tested positive for the coronavirus here in clay county.

For more information on the guidelines that are in place just visit the ema's and police department's facebook pages.

Reporting live in west point.

Quentin smith.

Wcbi news.