Yesterday, Ascension Sacred Heart deployed its mobile testing unit to Southern Oaks to collect specimens from all its residents – about 200 people. We have not received any word whether the staff was tested.
Inweekly caught up with County Commissioner Lumon May, who lives a block away from the infected skilled nursing home.
“I’m grateful for Ascension testing those at Southern Oaks,” he said. “However, I know of one employee at the facility that has died due to the coronavirus. I would hope the management would make sure all its employees are tested for the safety of the residents, the employees and their families, and the community.”
Challenge for Underhill
While May was fighting for more testing of those working in infected environments, County Commissioner Doug Underhill took another approach. He sent out another email to Escambia County voters that contained his interpretation of COVID-19 data: “The Government, the Press and the Medical Community keep feeding you a message of fear, but their own numbers don’t support it.”
He implored voters to write and call his fellow commissioners to meet immediately, vote to open beaches and petition the governor to allow counties to decide which businesses should be open.
Underhill accuses the medical community of feeding voters a “message of fear,” but we haven’t heard from the medical community for weeks (or county administration). We only have the data that the Florida Department of Health has released.
Here is our challenge to Underhill: Call a press conference with the heads of DOH Escambia, our hospitals, community health clinics and the infectious disease experts at UWF. Let them give us their interpretation of the COVID-19 data–something they haven’t done. They also can show us how the data fits the recovery criteria established by President Trump.
The meeting can be held in commission chambers. The commissioners and media can ask questions, and the briefing can be streamed live.
Will Commissioner Underhill call the press briefing and let those doing the COVID-19 testing and taking care of those stricken speak?
West Florida Left off
Governor Ron DeSantis hosted a conference call with members of the Re-Open Florida Task Force Executive Committee to discuss the re-opening of Florida’s economy.
Members of the Re-Open Florida Task Force Executive Committee are as follows – no one from our area serves on it:
Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez, Lieutenant Governor of Florida
Jimmy Patronis, Florida Chief Financial Officer
Ashley Moody, Florida Attorney General
President Bill Galvano, President, Florida Senate
Speaker Jose Oliva, Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
Senator Wilton Simpson, President-Designate, Florida Senate
Representative Chris Sprowls, Speaker-Designate, Florida House of Representatives
Commissioner Richard Corcoran, Commissioner of Education
Jamal Sowell, President & CEO, Enterprise Florida, Inc.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Mayor, Miami-Dade County
Mayor Dale Holness, Mayor, Broward County
Mayor David Kerner, Mayor, Palm Beach County
John Couris, President & CEO, Tampa General Hospital
Josh D’Amaro, President, Walt Disney World Resort
Todd Jones, CEO, Publix Super Markets
Syd Kitson, Chairman, Board of Governors for the State University System
Paul Reilly, Chairman & CEO, Raymond James Financial
Alex Sanchez, President & CEO, Florida Bankers Association
Eric Silagy, President & CEO, Florida Power & Light Company
John Sprouls, CEO, Universal Orlando Resort, Executive Vice President, Universal Parks & Resorts
Patrick Sunderlin, Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Joe York, President, AT&T Florida and Caribbean
Last night, the FDOH reported the state’s COVID-19 cases topped 27K and the death toll increased by 49 to 823. Â However, Escambia County had its second day of single digit increases in new cases.
| 4/19/20 | 4/20/20 | |||
| 6 p.m. | 6 p.m. | Increase | ||
| Total Cases | 26314 | 27058 | 744 | 2.83% |
| Florida Residents | 25598 | 25942 | 344 | 1.34% |
| Non-Fla. | 716 | 1116 | 400 | 55.87% |
| Deaths | 774 | 823 | 49 | 6.33% |
| Escambia | 309 | 315 | 6 | 1.94% |
| Okaloosa | 131 | 131 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Santa Rosa | 138 | 140 | 2 | 1.45% |
| Broward | 3971 | 4078 | 107 | 2.69% |
| Esc LTC cases | 65 | 69 | 4 | 6.15% |
Top 20 Florida Counties
| Rank | County | Population | Cases | Per 30K |
| 1 | Dade | Â Â Â 2,715,516 | 9657 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 106.69 |
| 2 | Broward | Â Â Â Â Â Â 924,229 | 4078 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 132.37 |
| 3 | Palm Beach | Â Â Â 1,446,277 | 2260 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 46.88 |
| 4 | Orange | Â Â Â 1,321,194 | 1216 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 27.61 |
| 5 | Hillsborough | Â Â Â 1,378,883 | 973 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 21.17 |
| 6 | Duval | Â Â Â Â Â Â 924,229 | 896 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 29.08 |
| 7 | Lee | Â Â Â Â Â Â 718,679 | 785 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 32.77 |
| 8 | Pinellas | Â Â Â Â Â Â 957,875 | 607 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 19.01 |
| 9 | Collier | Â Â Â Â Â Â 363,922 | 470 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 38.74 |
| 10 | Manatee | Â Â Â Â Â Â 373,853 | 433 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 34.75 |
| 11 | Osceola | Â Â Â Â Â Â 338,619 | 410 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 36.32 |
| 12 | Volusia | Â Â Â Â Â Â 527,634 | 342 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 19.45 |
| 13 | Polk | Â Â Â Â Â Â 724,777 | 335 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 13.87 |
| 14 | Seminole | Â Â Â Â Â Â 455,086 | 325 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 21.42 |
| 15 | Escambia | Â Â Â Â Â Â 311,522 | 315 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 30.33 |
| 16 | Sarasota | Â Â Â Â Â Â 412,144 | 291 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 21.18 |
| 17 | Clay | Â Â Â Â Â Â 207,291 | 249 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 36.04 |
| 18 | Alachua | Â Â Â Â Â Â 263,148 | 218 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 24.85 |
| 19 | Brevard | Â Â Â Â Â Â 601,942 | 218 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10.86 |
| 20 | Lake | Â Â Â Â Â Â 335,362 | 211 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 18.88 |
Top 10 Florida Counties per capita (min 200 cases)
| Rank | County | Population | Cases | Per 30K |
| 1 | Broward | Â Â Â Â Â Â 924,229 | 4078 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 132.37 |
| 2 | Dade | Â Â Â 2,715,516 | 9657 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 106.69 |
| 3 | Palm Beach | Â Â Â 1,446,277 | 2260 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 46.88 |
| 4 | Collier | Â Â Â Â Â Â 363,922 | 470 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 38.74 |
| 5 | Osceola | Â Â Â Â Â Â 338,619 | 410 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 36.32 |
| 6 | Clay | Â Â Â Â Â Â 207,291 | 249 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 36.04 |
| 7 | Manatee | Â Â Â Â Â Â 373,853 | 433 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 34.75 |
| 8 | Lee | Â Â Â Â Â Â 718,679 | 785 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 32.77 |
| 9 | Escambia | Â Â Â Â Â Â 311,522 | 315 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 30.33 |
| 10 | Duval | Â Â Â Â Â Â 924,229 | 896 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 29.08 |
BY THE NUMBERS: CORONAVIRUS — MONDAY EVENING EDITION
April 20, 2020
By NSF Staff
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Health released updated numbers Monday evening about the coronavirus in the state. Here are some takeaways:
— 27,058: Total number of cases.
— 398: Increase in cases from a Monday morning count.
— 823: Deaths of Florida residents.
— 34: Increase in deaths from a Monday morning count, with deaths of people who tested positive in Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Miami-Dade, Duval, Hernando, Highlands, Lake, Lee, Madison, Manatee, Orange, Palm Beach, Polk, Sarasota and Suwannee counties.
— 1: Number of deaths in Madison County, an 89-year-old man whose death was reported Monday.
— 1,928: Cases involving residents or staff members of long-term care facilities.
— 75: Increase in long-term care facility cases from a Monday morning count.
— 204: Deaths involving residents or staff members of long-term care facilities.
— 17: Increase in long-term care deaths from a Monday morning count.
— 272,390: Test results received by the Florida Department of Health.
— 9.9: Percentage of positive test results.
— 16.3: Percentage of positive test results in Miami-Dade County, which has the largest number of cases in the state.
Source: Florida Department of Health