43 Escambia County Employees Are Currently COVID-19 Positive, 90 More Awaiting Results

July 9, 2020

Escambia County reported an increase in the number of employees that are currently COVID-19 positive.

On Wednesday, there were 43 positive employees, or 2.15% of the workforce, up from 35 on Tuesday. Another 90 employees, 4.51%, of the county’s workforce of 1,997, were awaiting their test results.

The latest data shows 21 positive corrections employee out of a workforce of 574, one in Animal Services, two in ECAT, two in Human Resources and Risk Management, seven lifeguards, eight EMS workers and one in emergency dispatch. The numbers were current cases of Wednesday, not historical cumulative counts.

NorthEscambia.com file photo.

Comments

14 Responses to “43 Escambia County Employees Are Currently COVID-19 Positive, 90 More Awaiting Results”

  1. David Huie Green on July 10th, 2020 7:09 pm

    REGARDING:
    “It shouldn’t be about political parties. People have lost their life’s from this.”

    It wouldn’t have been had not one politician decided the entire thing was an attempt to show him as the incompetent he is. He declared the whole thing a HOAX and FAKE NEWS. Even though many in his party have come out in support of his opponent because the opponent is a better man, many in his party still believe his lies.That made it political. Belief in sanity leads to suspicion of disloyalty.

    In the meantime, more people are abandoning political parties as they all grow to seem a bit crazy. If the sane leave them, they actually WILL become less reasonable until they self-destruct. More likely they will mature and return to a semblance of sanity.

    David for better people

  2. Lee on July 10th, 2020 10:30 am

    These are adults. I’m assuming they were following protocols for all district employees – masks, distancing, etc., so imagine how quickly this virus will spread among a school full of children, especially if masks (according to HEALTH experts, the most effective defense if we must be out) are optional. I know masks are uncomfortable, but so are ventilators.

  3. Tracey on July 10th, 2020 10:04 am

    You know it’s sad that a country as great as America can’t get their you know what together. It shouldn’t be about political parties. People have lost their life’s from this. If your not someone whose been directly affected then that’s great but think about those who have. Ones who have died alone because their families couldn’t be by their sides. Someone like me waiting on results filled with anxiety! Our leaders need to be get it together and do what’s best for our citizens as a whole!

  4. Henry Coe on July 9th, 2020 8:39 pm

    re:John Doe. One of the names for Covid-19 is SARS-CoV-2.

    Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

    Definition of SARS-CoV-2
    : the coronavirus (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Betacoronavirus) that is the causative agent of COVID-19

  5. Melissa Pino on July 9th, 2020 2:22 pm

    Escambia Fire has already had covid symptoms in 2 of its companies, with a top brass quarantining, so I find it difficult to imagine they haven’t had a single test come back positive. If they truly haven’t, it’s probably because they aren’t testing symptomic people (they same situation as was happening in the inmate population at the Jail).

    Many County staff are wary of being tested, because they don’t want to get sent home on an uncertain pay situation. So without a mandate from the County to test, we’ll never have data that’s worth much, other than to illustrate at this point that (1) County administration has been falling down on the job of protecting its staff and the public they serve; and (2) this scenario is spreading beyond the point that contact tracing will really assist in much.

    Now that the situation has been allowed to spread through negligence, the resources need to be placed on mandatory testing of all staff and public announces that any person who has entered a County building with a known case of covid should get him- or herself tested, symptoms or not.

    By all accounts, Jason Rogers is the real deal and doing an excellent job. Janice Gilley needs to step aside from any further jurisdiction over Public Safety, period, and let him lead the efforts. Because our EMS had never recovered from its bleeding of medics over the last year, they are extremely hard hit right now, and having to suffer the bad press coming from the usual channels on top of it. People need to understand that there is a different between incompetence and being so far stretched that you don’t have enough medics to staff a sufficient number of ALS trucks.

    And it will get worse, in EMS and everywhere else in the County, due to people refusing to wear masks and follow the CDC guidelines on social distancing. It has beem a stunning, appalling lack of administrative leadership and will result in the worst public health failure that Pensacola has ever witnessed.

  6. William Reynolds on July 9th, 2020 1:17 pm

    “16 out of 25 people in Public Safety alone tested positive. That’s 61% so far””

    That does not add up with the numbers provided by the county in the spreadsheet. Do you believe their numbers are incorrect, or is there a department missing from the breakdown?

  7. Hmm on July 9th, 2020 12:54 pm

    16 out of 25 people in Public Safety alone tested positive. That’s 61% so far

  8. John Doe on July 9th, 2020 12:46 pm

    Jean, SARS and COVID-19 are entirely different diseases caused by entirely different viruses. The common cold is a coronavirus. You can’t just generalize things because you read something on the internet and now you think you’re an expert and everything is a conspiracy.

  9. Really on July 9th, 2020 11:52 am

    Firefighters no cases!?! I don’t think so.

  10. Henry Coe on July 9th, 2020 10:01 am

    I am not at all surprised. I had to go down there on June 3rd to renew my DL. I sent my CC a message about how much risk I could see for the people who worked there because of the people working the door. I told him I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the Covid-19 makes its way in and that everyone would get it all at one time.
    You have people waiting for hours and workers inside not wearing mask thinking that 3 ft x 3ft sheet of plexiglass was going to protect them. I would be happily surprised if those other 90 people don’t also test positive but I feel like 221 Palafox has become a giant petri dish for Covid-19. They should probably shut it down for a month if they want to stop the spread.

  11. Rochelle A on July 9th, 2020 8:29 am

    I’m sorry that this is happening but what did y’all think was gonna happen? Stay home with your loved ones. Those of us whom live alone are the ones who have to figure out how to socialize with people without getting sick. Stop all the conspiracy theories about government doing this to us and let’s do what we know to do so this will end. Stop worrying about whose life’s matter and decide that we all matter and let’s fix our plant. I personally would like a private life again.

  12. Jean on July 9th, 2020 7:12 am

    It’s amazing how going to bars, outings people are coming down with a virus that had been around for many many years.
    Ones who are wearing masks are ones getting sick. Only 4 months till election and things are getting worst. Go figure.
    Watch if s Democrat was in office you would never have heard about this virus just like the SARS and other diseases we had that is also known as the CORID virus. Don’t believe look it up

  13. Sherry Ewy on July 9th, 2020 6:50 am

    @Cynthia. Thank you. That was both kind and thoughtful. A very needed reprieve from the usual discourse. God bless you and yours. Be of gentle heart, my sister

  14. Cynthia Wilson on July 9th, 2020 4:42 am

    I’m extremely sadden for these workers and for anyone that has tested positive for the COVID-19. May God put his almighty healing hands on each and every one. My heart goes out to the families who have lost thier love ones due to this virus that is spreading like a wild fire through out America. Each and everyone around the country should pray that God takes this virus away. God bless each one of you!