Coronavirus surfaces in 19 elder care facilities in Florida

[babylonsister]

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/03/18/coronavirus-surfaces-in-19-elder-care-facilities-in-florida-1267712

Coronavirus surfaces in 19 elder care facilities in Florida
By ALEXANDRA GLORIOSO
03/18/2020 01:25 PM EDT
Updated 03/18/2020 02:52 PM EDT


Nineteen long-term care facilities in Florida’s Duval and Broward counties have either a suspected or confirmed case of the coronavirus, a top state health care official said Wednesday.

Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Mary Mayhew said she could not divulge the name or addresses of the nursing facilities, citing patient privacy requirements. She said she would look into providing more information in aggregate.

Mayhew‘s agency has dispatched strike teams to affected facilities, contingents that include a nurse, an epidemiologist, an infectious disease prevention specialist and a state facility surveyor from the health agency who has been trained on the coronavirus.

Mayhew expressed concern about how hospitals are working with nursing homes, where the sickest patients reside.

Hospitals and nursing homes transfer patients back and forth on a regular basis, depending on their health care needs. Some Florida hospitals are equipped to handle coronavirus patients, but nursing homes are not.

"I can’t afford to have someone transferred from a hospital to a nursing home when obvious signs were overlooked for testing," Mayhew told POLITICO.

Her agency is working to set up a statewide, around-the-clock hotline so nursing homes can more easily report suspected cases of the coronavirus, or Covid-19.

“I need, in these unprecedented times, a strong partnership between hospitals and long-term care providers so we can identify and isolate people who are testing positive for Covid-19 in our elderly and frail populations,” Mayhew told POLITICO.

The coronavirus has a higher fatality rate among the elderly and people with underlying health conditions, such as cancer.

[FM123]

1. It is getting really scary for our older folks in A.L.F. s down here in Broward county.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241279641.html

[getagrip_already]

2. florida is anything but transparent on this issue.....

They aren't releasing any information they can get away with hiding. They probably only reported this because they felt they couldn't contain it.

This has to be rampant in florida. Yet the cone of silence is in place.

[gibraltar72]

3. And it appears they are under reporting.

[Chainfire]

4. Probably not under reporting,

Just not testing. No test, no Trump virus.

[coti]

5. That will be a bloodbath. nt