The analysis of COVID-19 of  the mobile and drive-thru testing sites of Sacred Heart appears to show the virus hasn’t spread much to the general population in Escambia County.  I use the word “appears” because DOH Escambia and Escambia County haven’t given any analysis of data. In fact, we only got this data because of a public record request we submitted last week.
The secrecy surrounding the testing data is frustrating because the numbers are reassuring as we reopen local businesses.
Sacred Heart has had a 6.1% positive rate for Escambia County residents using its drive-thru facility. The people tested had to pass a pre-screening process to be allowed to have specimens collected. Â The rate for the nursing homes was 3 percentage points higher.
Community Health placed its mobile testing unit at four sites in Escambia County. No pre-screening was required. The positive percentages ranged from 3.2% to 1%. The testing was done more than two weeks after Gov. DeSantis issued his safe-at-home order.
We may have a baseline against which we can measure the general population in mid- and late June, as the restrictions are relaxed.
| Â Sacred Heart | Escambia |
| # of Samples Collected – Drive-through | 2916 |
| # Resulted Negative – Drive-through | 2702 |
| # Resulted Positive – Drive-through | 177 |
| # Pending Resulting – Drive-through | 37 |
| Positive Rate | 6.1% |
| Samples Collected – 7 Nursing Homes | 1214 |
| # Resulted Negative – Nursing Homes | 1090 |
| # Resulted Positive – Nursing Homes | 109 |
| # Pending – Nursing Homes | 15 |
| Positive Rate – Nursing Homes only | 9.0% |
| Community Health | |
| Attucks Court 4/22/20 | Escambia |
| # of Samples Collected | 255 |
| # Resulted Negative | 245 |
| # Resulted Positive | 8 |
| # Inconclusive/Pending | 2 |
| Positive Rate | 3.2% |
| Morris Court 4/24/20 | |
| # of Samples Collected | 150 |
| # Resulted Negative | 147 |
| # Resulted Positive | 3 |
| # Inconclusive/Pending | 0 |
| Positive Rate | 2.0% |
| Carver Park 4/27/2020 | |
| # of Samples Collected | 305 |
| # Resulted Negative | 301 |
| # Resulted Positive | 3 |
| # Inconclusive/Pending | 1 |
| Positive Rate | 1.0% |
| Gonzalez 5/6/2020 | |
| # of Samples Collected | 85 |
| # Resulted Negative | 84 |
| # Resulted Positive | 1 |
| # Inconclusive/Pending | 0 |
| Positive Rate | 1.2% |
Meanwhile Escambia County had 12 more COVID-19 cases reported today, and one more death. DOH Escambia entered 677 new test results – 1.8% positive rate.
| 5/18/20 | 5/19/20 | |||
| 11 a.m. | 11 a.m. | Increase | ||
| Total Cases | 46442 | 46944 | 502 | 1.08% |
| Florida Residents | 45208 | 45684 | 476 | 1.05% |
| Non-Fla. | 1234 | 1260 | 26 | 2.11% |
| Deaths | 1997 | 2052 | 55 | 2.75% |
| Escambia | 707 | 719 | 12 | 1.70% |
| Okaloosa | 178 | 180 | 2 | 1.12% |
| Santa Rosa | 185 | 186 | 1 | 0.54% |