Sunday COVID report

Florida COVID-19 cases topped 31K. The new county report by DOH shows Escambia County had 624 tests entered in the system on Saturday, April 25 with only 3% positive – 20 total – the lowest percentage in 14 days.

We don’t if the new test results are from Attucks Court. If so, that would be a good indication that virus may have not spread much in the community. Inweekly will ask EOC and DOH Escambia for explanations.

FDOH has yet to release the data for long-term nursing homes. We will add them to this post once they’re released.

Expanded Testing
In Bay County, PanCare Health has expanded its testing to include individuals who have no COVID-19 symptoms but who work at a long-term care facility, have underlying medical conditions, are 65 years old and older, or are first responders.

The organization – which has testing sites in Panama City, Marianna, Bristol, Port St. Joe, and Eastpoint – is now using the rapid testing kits that use a blood sample from a pricked finger and yields results within 15 minutes. If results return positive, an additional test is done using the nasal swab method and then sent to a lab.