JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In an extraordinary move, Mayor Lenny Curry announced on Wednesday he is issuing an executive order requiring Jacksonville residents to stay home unless it’s absolutely necessary to leave.

The safer-at-home order, which mirrors similar measures in place elsewhere, goes into effect beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday. It directs all commercial and retail businesses in the city that are not considered essential services to close until further notice.

The order does not apply to a wide range of businesses deemed essential, from banks to grocery stores.

RELATED: Which businesses are considered essential?

"This was not an easy decision to make,” Curry said during a Wednesday morning news conference. “The weight of these decisions are very, very impactful on individual lives in our city. But these decisions have to be made, these actions have to be taken to make sure that we’re taking care of the people of Jacksonville.”

The mayor noted that Jacksonville, which currently has 239 known coronavirus cases, is not among the hardest hit communities in Florida despite being the state’s largest city. He attributed the low infection rate to steps the city has already taken to reduce crowds and keep the virus from spreading.

Yet, Curry said, not everyone is doing their part.

RELATED: Gov. DeSantis issues stay-home order for Florida | Can you go to church? And other FAQs

“There’s a million people in this city,” he said. “We don’t have a million police officers, and we don’t want to have to deploy these resources and stretch them because people simply won’t socially distance. So, we’ve got to take this seriously.”

Within hours of Curry’s announcement, Gov. Ron DeSantis caved to mounting pressure and issued a statewide stay-at-home order. DeSantis was resistant to take that step in recent weeks, saying he did not think it would be a sound move, even as his counterparts in California and New York did so.

The safer-at-home order marks the latest in a series of steps the Curry administration has taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak since declaring a local state of emergency March 13. He previously imposed limits on restaurant and bars, closed Duval County’s beaches and pushed businesses to let employees work from home.

WATCH: Mayor’s Wednesday news conference | DOCUMENT: View the mayor’s safer-at-home order

At the same time, Curry has been asking citizens to practice good hygiene and social distancing, which are widely accepted by public health experts as the best ways to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

“While we’re confident you’ll be much safer at home in the coming weeks, I want to make it clear that this does not mean you can’t go for a walk, you can’t walk your dogs, you can’t ride your bikes — just do it responsibly,” he said. “... Let’s take care of each other. That’s only way we’re going to get rid of this thing.”

Those who violate the safer-at-home order could be arrested, Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams said Wednesday, but the hope is it doesn’t come to that. Williams said a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office task force will handle calls on suspected violations, such as block parties, to avoid diverting patrol officers from routine calls for service.

“We can issue citations and we can make arrests,” the sheriff said. “We’ve been able to gain cooperation with parties that we’ve dealt with so far and they’ve broken up voluntarily."

Essential businesses can continue to operate as usual, Curry said, but he encouraged employers to allow their workforces to contribute remotely if their duties can be done from home. These businesses include assisted-living facilities, banks, gas stations, grocery stores, hardware stores, hospitals, pharmacies, among a host of others (View the complete list).

“My work-from-home order remains in full effect,” Curry said. “And even if you are classified as an essential business, if your employees can work from home, they can perform the job duties from home, they should be doing that.”

Below is a list of the businesses the city considers essential: