About 30 patients and staff members at a Tampa Bay area nursing home have tested positive for the coronavirus and some patients have been taken to three hospitals for treatment, officials said.
Other residents at the Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion will be tested and the facility is being cleaned, Pinellas County Assistant Administrator Lourdes Benedict told the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday.
Statewide, there are 1,332 cases in Florida long-term care facilities, according to the latest state data released Wednesday.
Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard told the Times that she was told the facility had been reluctant to transfer the patients to hospitals, but did so when they became overwhelmed by the outbreak.
The company is working to share information with patients families, employees and health officials, the nursing home’s executive director, Michael Mason, told the newspaper. He said additional information would be released on Thursday.
“We recognize this is a difficult situation,” Mason said. “Our commitment is to first share information with our families and employees.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced more aggressive state efforts to inspect nursing homes to detect infected patients and staff on Monday. He ordered the Florida National Guard to create 10 teams that will visit long-term care facilities to test employees and residents, with a focus on hard-hit Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
DeSantis said Monday that the virus has caused known infections at 94 of the state’s 4,000 homes. In Clay County, in the Jacksonville area, 49 cases have been reported at long-term care facilities, and 51 cases among residents and staff have been reported at a nursing home in Suwannee County, located halfway between Jacksonville and Tallahassee.
In South Florida, the virus killed a third resident at a Pompano Beach assisted-living facility, the South Florida SunSentinel reported. The three residents were part of the skilled nursing program at the Court at Palm Aire, a 90-bed assisted-living center, according to a statement issued by Five Star Senior Living Faciltiy, which runs the home. The statement said another six resident from the program have also tested positive.
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