Since I wrote about Escambia County’s COVID deaths ranking as the county’s third largest cause of deaths, the Florida Department of Health has reported six more deaths, increasing the total to 260 as of Saturday, Oct. 10. The county has had 23 deaths reported since Sept. 30, which puts the county on pace to surpass the deaths reported for Sept. (49), July (53), June (44), May (33) and April (11).
Of the 23 deaths reported for October, 10 were related to long-term care facilities, which makes one wonder if the nursing homes losing power for several days due to Hurricane Sally impacted the health of those battling COVID. On Saturday, Sept. 19, the Escambia EOC reported that AHCA found temperatures above 80 degrees at several nursing homes.
Here are the 10 facilities with the most COVID deaths:
| PATIENTS | STAFF | TOTAL | |
| REHABILITATION CENTER AT PARK PLACE | 16 | 0 | 16 |
| BAYSIDE HEALTH & REHAB CENTER | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| SOUTHERN OAKS CARE CENTER | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| CENTURY CENTER FOR REHAB & HEALING | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| THE WATERFORD AT CARPENTER’S CREEK | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| WILLOWBROOKE COURT AT AZALEA TRACE | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| THE WATERFORD AT CREEKSIDE | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| SOLARIS HEALTHCARE PENSACOLA | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| GRANDVIEW RETIREMENT CENTER | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| ROSEWOOD HEALTHCARE & REHAB CENTER | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| BROOKSDALE | 5 | 0 | 5 |
While deaths have increased, the positivity rate for Escambia County has been below 2% for the past three days.