Escambia County Closes All Public Beaches
March 20, 2020
Escambia County issued an emergency order Friday afternoon closing all public access beaches in the county effective at midnight. The order will remain in place through April 2.
The order closes the sandy portion of public beaches — sound side and Gulf side, Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key. Persons are not prohibited from going to the beach for a scenic drive, food pick-up, etc.
The closure includes public beach areas, public beach access ways and public beachfront parks. Boat ramps, the fishing pier and the Bob Sikes fishing bridge will remain open to the public.
Violation of the order is a misdemeanor offense.
The commission also voted to go all-electronic tolling to Pensacola Beach effective immediately. Sunpass or other electronic tolling or toll-by-plate will be in effect.
The Escambia County Commission voted unanimously for the beach closure after three and a half hours of discussion.
Santa Rosa County has closed Navarre Beach and the pier effective at midnight Friday .Okaloosa and Walton counties closed their public beaches Thursday morning.
In Alabama beaches closed under an order from Gov. Kay Ivey.
Governor Suspends All On-premise Services At Florida Restaurants; Closes All Gyms And Fitness Centers
March 20, 2020
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Friday afternoon that immediately suspends on-premise food and alcohol consumption for restaurants in Florida.
Restaurants can continue to offer drive-thru and curbside service.
The order also requires the immediate closure of gyms and fitness centers in the state. The order does not apply to gyms and fitness centers that are an amenity of a residential building, part of a hotel with a capacity of less than 10 people, inside fire or police station or are in any single-occupant office building.
Sacred Heart Tests 800 For COVID-19, No Results Back Yet
March 20, 2020
Sacred Heart Hospital has tested about 800 people since they started drive-thru COVID-19 testing on March 16, and the first results from those tests are expected back by this upcoming Sunday, March 22.
Those first tests were sent to another laboratory in Jacksonville, leading to the delay. However, Dawn Rudolph, president of Ascension Sacred Heart, said they are moving the tests to the hospital’s in-house laboratory that is able to analyze 50 tests per day due to equipment limitations.
Mark Faulkner, CEO of Baptist Health Care said Baptist Hospital is some 3-5 week away from being able to process tests in-house while they await the arrival of equipment.
If someone tests positive, “…the treatment remains the same. Go home, self-isolate,” she said. “If you are sick enough to be in the hospital, we will take care of you in the hospital”
Rudolph said she believes some percentage of the 800 people tested will be positive. She told the Escambia County Commission Friday afternoon that over 2,800 people called the testing hotline, but many did not meet the testing qualifications based upon a series of questions.
“We have a state of calm at Sacred Heart. We are prepared,” Rudolph said. “We will survive this.”
Persons interested in Sacred Heart’s drive-thru testing much first call (850) 746-2684 to be pre-screened. If they meet the criteria for testing, they will be provided more information on the test and location. The screening call center is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The drive-thru test center is open 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Pictured: Dawn Rudolph, president of Ascension Sacred Heart, addresses the Escambia County Commission Friday. NorthEscambia.com image.
Escambia Schools Tried To Call All Parents. It Didn’t Go So Well. Can They Reach You?
March 20, 2020
The Escambia County School is looking to reach all parents and guardians by phone, and that has proved to be problematic for thousands on their phone list.
The school district made tens of thousands of automated phone calls Thursday to the phone numbers they have on file for each student for a simple press one or press two survey asking if they have adequate home internet service for upcoming virtual instruction.
There was a technical glitch that caused some callers to hear nothing on the line when they answered, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said. That resulted in the district collecting little or no data for some schools.
But more importantly, Thomas said thousands of phone numbers were invalid, meaning the district does not have correct phone numbers on file for those students. He is encouraging families to contact their child’s school and update phone numbers on file after staff returns on March 30. Parents can log into the online FOCUS system and see if their number is wrong, but cannot directly update it there.
“We need to have correct numbers for all of our students,” Thomas said.
Teachers will personally call parents or guardians by April 1. If the call is not received by April 3, Thomas said parents should call their child’s school to make sure the school has the correct phone number.
Thomas said if parents received the silent survey call on Thursday, not to worry. Teachers will ask about internet access when they call the week of March 30.
Gulf Power Suspends Disconnections In Response To COVID-19
March 20, 2020
Gulf Power company is suspending electric service disconnections in response to COVID-19 through at least the end of March.
Gulf Power’s parent company, has committed $1.5 million in COVID-19 emergency assistance. The emergency funds, provided by the NextEra Energy Foundation and Gulf Power Foundation, will be distributed to partner organizations working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis to provide critical support to the most vulnerable members of the communities in which they operate.
Gulf Power serves over 470,000 customers in northwest Florida.
Free Meals Available Beginning Monday At Five Locations; 33 More Schools Soon
March 20, 2020
The Escambia County School District will begin providing free meals on Monday at five sites in Escambia County, and nearly three dozen additional sites will be added by the following week.
Breakfast and lunch will be available from 9 a.m. until noon, March 23-27 at five locations in Escambia County:
- Bratt Elementary School, 5721 North Highway 99, Bratt
- Bellview Elementary School, 4425 Bellview Avenue
- Warrington Middle School, 459 South Old Corry Field Road, Pensacola
- C.A. Weis Elementary School, 2701 North Q Street, Pensacola
- Booker T. Washington High School, 6000 College Parkway, Pensacola
In addition, NorthEscamba.com has learned that a non-school meal pick up location will be added by Escambia County in Century next week. The school district will also add 33 additional locations the week of March 30. Details on the additional pickup locations will be posted on NorthEscambia.com when available.
Meals will be distributed in a curbside pick up operation. Food items will be in to go containers and will consist of ready-to-eat food items that should be consumed when received or should be quickly refrigerated for consumption at a later time.
Each child will receive breakfast and lunch in the same visit. Children do not have to be a student at that school in order to pick up meals there.
ECSD will be adding 33 school sites on Monday, March 30th. The list will be updated this time, next week.
According to the USDA’s policy, the child or children must be present to receive meals. They must be 18 and younger; and meals are designed to be carried away and consumed off campus (cafeteria/dining rooms will not be open).
Slight Chance Of Rain For Friday, Increasing Into The Weekend
March 20, 2020
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Saturday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. Light northwest wind becoming north 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night: A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the morning.
Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the morning.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Light south wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 85.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 68.
Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 87.
Dramatic Photos Show Firefighters Battling Car Hauler Fire On I-10
March 20, 2020
Dramatic photos show firefighters from the Ferry Pass Station of Escambia Fire Rescue as they battled a commercial vehicle fire Thursday night.
The fire on I-10 was reported as being at Scenic Highway exit, but it turned out to be on the Santa Rosa County side of the I-10 bridge across Pensacola Bay.
The fire swept through an 18-wheel vehicle hauler carrying three vehicles. There were no injuries reported.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Here’s How Alabama Is Handling The Coronavirus, From Closing Beaches To Takeout Only Eats
March 20, 2020
The State of Alabama has implemented several new regulations in an effort to help curb the coronavirus spread.
Those regulations include:
- All restaurant, bars, breweries are limited to delivery or pick-up. Hospital food service is exempted from this order.
- All schools and universities are ordered to close.
- All gatherings of 25 or more of those that cannot maintain a 6-foot distance between people are prohibited.
- All Alabama beaches are closed.
- All senior citizen gatherings, senior citizen centers across the state are closed.
- All preschools, childcare centers are closed statewide. This ban doesn’t apply to childcare centers serving families of government, first responders or healthcare workers.
- Visitors and non-essential personnel are banned at hospitals and nursing homes. There are exceptions for end-of-life and maternity situations.
- All elective medical and dental procedures are delayed. Medical offices remain open and are serving patients.
Click here to read the full order.
Escambia Tax Collector Office Closed; Services Available By Phone Or Online
March 20, 2020
All Escambia County Tax Collector offices are now closed to the public, but many services are still available online or by phone.
From Tax Collector Scott Lunsford:
Employees will continue to assist as many citizens as possible by way of a phone queue. All current appointments are cancelled.
For service, visit www.EscambiaTaxCollector.com and click “Join the Line” at the top. Pick an office and follow the prompts. Calls to customers who join the phone queue will be returned in the order in which they joined. A valid phone number must be provided. Call-backs will be from a 438 (Escambia County) or 595 (State of Florida) exchange.
Assistance for the following transactions will be processed through the virtual phone queue:
- Title services (to the extent possible)
- Original registrations (new tags; renewals are online only)
- Print electronic titles
- Handicapped parking placards
- Florida birth certificates
- Surrender plates
- Driver license (to the extent possible)
If you are currently Real ID compliant and your last driver license or identification card renewal was done in an office, you may be eligible to renew online. A 30-day extension has been issued for those citizens those licenses or identification cards expire between March 16, 2020 and April 15, 2020.
The following transactions are available online only:
- • Property Tax Payments – Property tax payments are due by the end of March and at this time, there is no provision of law to extend the statutory delinquency deadline for the payment of real estate and tangible property taxes
- • Business Tax Receipt – Businesses can renew and print their business tax receipts online
- • BTExpress – Citizens and business owners can apply for a new business tax receipt or edit information on your current account
- • Tag Renewal – Renew online and pick up the same or next business day in one of our convenient drive-thrus or have the registration mailed to you
- • Hunting and Fishing License – Purchase or renew online
Full payment of fees is required at time of service, and payment may be made by eCheck, debit, or credit cards.
Payments made by eCheck are fee-free. Credit and debit transactions are subject to convenience fees charged by the payment vendor(s). If you must pay by cash, you may visit a drive thru at our Downtown, Marcus Pointe, or Molino offices.