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Long-Term Care COVID-19 Cases Increase To 20 In Escambia County. No One Will Say Which Facilities Are Involved.
April 9, 2020
Update: The number of cases increased to 20 since the original publication of this story Thursday afternoon.
Concern is growing among family members with loved ones in long-term care facilities in Escambia County after the Florida Department of Health reported that there are now 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in residents or staff.
The first case was reported last Friday, and by Wednesday had grown to eight cases before more than doubling to 18 by Thursday. Escambia County ranks seventh for the number of cases in the state.
The FDOH won’t say which facilities have the cases, and Escambia County Administrator Janice Gilley said Friday afternoon that the county is not allowed to release facility names. She said that can only be released by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees.
“We empathize with the families and friends who have loved ones in our nursing home facilities within the county and have concerns about their health and exposure. At this time, we have been advised by the Florida Department of Health that disclosure to the public regarding long term care and nursing home facilities affected by covid remains in the hands of the state surgeon general,” Gilley said.
“The county continues to work alongside the Florida Department of Health, the lead agency for a public health incident. Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have communicated with them to release whatever information they can, but we also understand there are privacy laws in which they must follow. We strongly encourage nursing homes to work with the state surgeon general to publicly disclose if there have been positive COVID-19 cases in their facility in the Escambia County community. We believe it is in the public’s best interest for the facilities be as transparent as possible within the extent of the state and federal laws,” she continued in an emailed statement.
There were total of 528 COVID-19 cases in Florida’s long-term care facilities as of Thursday.
Comments
9 Responses to “Long-Term Care COVID-19 Cases Increase To 20 In Escambia County. No One Will Say Which Facilities Are Involved.”
Lack of transparency is exactly what consumer advocates, campaign finance reform supporters, environmentalists, among others, have been talking about for decades. This is a classic example of government and business in cahoots with one another, suppressing public knowledge… and even during a public emergency.
It is troublesome when certain county commissioners publicly shame the general public for wanting to receive comprehensive information by calling them “alarmists” and “extremists”. And, when the health department director declines interview requests with the local TV news station (see WEAR 6 PM newscast statement where the director has not responded to repeated requests for an interview since March 26), it generates more suspicion in the public. Also, this website has sounded the alarm on closed meetings where the media were not informed.
Same thing is going on at the White House, where only select members of the press are granted interviews (to control the questions).
Those constantly worried about 2nd Amendment rights should exam what is happening to 1st Amendment rights with regard to freedom of the press.
What has happened to the SUNSHINE LAWS of Florida. One should be able to find out if their loved one is in danger.
My Mother-in-laws long term care facility called us to let us know that she was ok.
I assume if you have a loved one in one of these facilities you will be contacted and kept up to date. If you weren’t all you have to do is call them and ask. You can also call the resident (We call her every day and prior to this outbreak visited three times a week) Stay in touch with your loved ones and form a working relationship with their caregivers, it pays big dividends.
Non-transparency is a good way to invoke distrust between officials and citizens of a community, especially in an event where information is key to one’s safety and survival. I’m confused as to how listing the number of confirmed long-term care cases within each hospital without personal identification breaks some sort of privacy law.
So basically, a family doesn’t know IF their family member has already been exposed so removing them for the time being may or may not do any good. If the patient has been exposed, this will then expose the rest of the family/caregivers at home yet if they don’t remove the patient, the risk of exposure increases if it’s at that facility. It just seems that the nursing home management should notify family members if there have been cases at their facility to give a family an option to move their patient home or not. This is all so frustrating as each variable arises. Please folks, just do the best you can. I know there are rules to follow but knowing your family member may go through this without family nearby is heart wrenching.
Brenda Posey, you are absolutely right. For the sake of the communal health they must release the info on the infection points. But they won’t, the risk of lawsuits is far greater than the risk of infecting other citizens.
This brings the question of what imposes the most danger onto the public health? The fear of lawsuits, the lawyers – they are the ones who put our health at risk, albeit indirectly.
Bottom line: People need to stay home. You don’t need to be going to Wal Mart to buy beer right now. You need to stay home! Stay home! Stay home!!!
Glad we got the mother-in-law out two months ago. Just I in Time! Wish I could name it here but I think the Moderator would remove it.
I understand and respect privacy as it applies to personal information. In these times, the question arises – is it better to list the facilities and how many cases are identified in each OR to maintain the hidden list of facilities and keep hundreds or perhaps thousands of family members and concerned friends in the dark and worried for the health and welfare of their loved ones?