COVID-19 continues to be a concern for nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, as those over the age of 65 are at higher risk to contract the virus. As of June 7, 1,388 individuals that were staff or residents of a long-term care facility have died. The Florida Department of Health tracks long-term care facilities in a special report.

The information contained in the long-term care report reflects the current available information reported by each facility’s staff to the Department via the Agency for Health Care Administration.

Unlike the FDOH Dashboard, which reports positive cases to date, the data in the long-term care report are not cumulative but reflect the information available for current residents and staff. If a staff member tests positive, after that person no longer has symptoms, that person must test negative twice before being cleared to report to work.

According to the report released June 7, several long-term care facilities in the Big Lake area have patients and/or staff with COVID-19:
• Glades Health Care Center in Pahokee has no residents currently COVID-19 positive, one resident who was positive and transferred to another facility or hospital, and one staff member who is COVID-19 positive.

• Clewiston Nursing and Rehabilitative Facility has 18 residents who are currently positive, 21 positive residents who were transferred to another facility or hospital, and 24 staff members who tested positive.
• Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitation Center has five residents who are currently positive, no residents transferred, and one staff member who tested positive.
• Okeechobee Health and Rehabilitation Center is not on the most recent FDOH report because the facility currently has no staff or patients who are positive.

The most recent report for COVID-19 related deaths of long-term care facilities include nine deaths of Clewiston Nursing and Rehabilitative Facility residents and six at the Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitative Center in LaBelle.

The FDOH county reports show the cumulative numbers for long-term health facility patients and staff. This report totals the positive cases to date. On the county reports, positive cases are counted according to their home county of residence rather than their place of work. For example, if a nursing home staff member lived in Okeechobee but worked in Palm Beach County, that person would count not on the long-term care facility report in Palm Beach County but on the county report in Okeechobee County.

The June 8 Okeechobee County report shows six COVID-19 positive cases related to long-term care facility/staff.

The June 8 report for Hendry County shows 70 COVID-19 positive cases related to long-term care facility/staff.

The June 8 report for Glades County shows two COVID-19 positive cases related to long-term care facility/staff.

The June 8 report for Palm Beach County shows 864 COVID-19 positive cases related to long-term care facility/staff.