DOH Escambia only entered 149 new tests results since yesterday’s report – positive percentage 6.7%. Â On Tuesday, Dr. Lanza, the head of DOH Escambia, told the Escambia County Commission that the county had a thousand outstanding test. Since the meeting, only 266 test results have been entered in the Merlin system.
Is FDOH suppressing test results? Or is the volume too much for staff to handle?
| 4/29/20 | 4/30/20 | |||
| 11 a.m. | 11 a.m. | Increase | ||
| Total Cases | 33193 | 33690 | 497 | 1.50% |
| Florida Residents | 32318 | 32804 | 486 | 1.50% |
| Non-Fla. | 875 | 886 | 11 | 1.26% |
| Deaths | 1218 | 1268 | 50 | 4.11% |
| Escambia | 496 | 506 | 10 | 2.02% |
| Okaloosa | 153 | 154 | 1 | 0.65% |
| Santa Rosa | 153 | 154 | 1 | 0.65% |
ACHA has update the data for long-term care facilities – as of April 28. Escambia County has 147 cases, up 2. Â How many test result from LTCs outstanding? Unknown.
| Residents | Transfer Out | Staff | ||
| Arcadia Health & Rehabilitation | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Asbury Place | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Bayside Health | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Brookdale Pensacola | 2 | 0 | 5 | |
| De Luna Health And Rehabilitation | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Florida Mentor | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Homestead Village Retirement | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Olive Branch Health And Rehabilitation | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Pensacola Developmental Center | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Rehabiltation at Park Place | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Rosewood Healthcare | 6 | 2 | 1 | |
| Southern Oaks Care Center | 93 | 5 | 15 | |
| Specialty Health And Rehabilitation | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 102 | 12 | 33 | 147 |
FUNDS SOUGHT TO BOLSTER LONG-TERM CARE INDUSTRY
With nursing homes and assisted-living facilities among the most-vulnerable places during the coronavirus pandemic, industry officials called Wednesday for the federal government to set up an “emergency response fund†and for government agencies to provide more help with testing for the disease. The National Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living said that such an emergency fund would be similar to money that the federal government has provided to hospitals amid the coronavirus.
“Our dedicated and heroic caregivers are working around the clock to keep our residents safe. But they need help,†Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, said in a prepared statement. “Our profession has been sounding the alarm for weeks and weeks, but we have largely been forgotten by the public health sector. If we are not made a top priority, this situation will get worse with the most vulnerable in our society being lost.â€
With COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, particularly dangerous to seniors and people with underlying health conditions, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida have seen cases and deaths steadily increase. As of Wednesday morning, 394 residents or staff members of long-term care facilities had died in Florida. The state has taken steps such as sending in teams of National Guard members to test people for the virus.
