Health officials released new information about new coronavirus related deaths at senior citizen care facilities to share how the virus was spreading inside. The data, which came directly from the Florida Department of Health, will help shed light on unanswered questions for families who are anxious about the safety of their loved ones, who live in nursing and assisted-living homes.
The good news in Osceola County is that there was no news; the fatality list didn’t have any Osceola facilities listed. In fact, a list from the Florida Department of Health updated Saturday showed only one senior health care facility with positive resident COVID-19 cases: The Terrace of St. Cloud, with 22 cases, four positive staff and four positive cases transferred. The Terrace of Kissimmee, Sonata Hunter’s Creek and Avante at St. Cloud each showed one positive staff member.
The data shows one out of every three coronavirus deaths in Florida has occurred inside one of the state’s long-term care facilities. Since the pandemic began, visitors have not been allowed inside the facilities in order to slow the spread of the virus to those most at risk. This means that families have been away from their loved ones for some six weeks.
During a news conference Sunday in Daytona Beach, Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed sending a mobile testing lab inside of an RV around the state to long-term facilities that would test residents for coronavirus, using the rapid response tests that give results in 45 minutes.
