CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The number of cases of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities in Clay County tripled in a 24-hour period, according to data from the Florida Department of Health.
Nearly a third of all the cases in Clay County is in one of these facilities. Of the 158 total cases of the novel coronavirus in the county, 57 cases come from long-term care facilities.
Clay County now has the fourth-most cases in long-term care facilities in the state behind Dade County (111), Broward County (79) and Palm Beach County (74).
Now the question everyone wants to know: which facilities are they in? The state will not release the locations because laws are protecting patient privacy.
Some people tell News4Jax they know about the cases, but they say none of them are being reported.
Just Thursday, long-term care facility staff and residents in the state accounted for 528 cases of the virus. Saturday morning, that number reached 787 out of the more than 18,000 total cases.
News4Jax questioned Clay County Health officials on which facilities accounted for them, but they said they don’t discuss locations.
In a report on March 25 with a joint task force with Duval County, they recorded two cases of the virus at a facility in Clay County, one of which was fatal.
That’s troubling Clay County residents.
"They have mentioned it multiple times about a facility in Orange Park with positive cases, they didn’t give which one though,” one person wrote on Facebook.
News4Jax reached out to a Clay County facility who acknowledged being visited by the health department.
They told us “all of our residents and staff have been tested for COVID-19.”
News4Jax did confirm that an individual at Heartland Health Care Center in Orange Park has tested positive for COVID-19.
“Data from across the country has shown that some individuals are positive but not showing symptoms. Acting out of an abundance of caution and working with the local department of health, we were able to test all our patients in the center,” Heartland Health Care Center said in a statement. “We are happy to address any concerns or questions employees, patients and families have directly with them.”
At least seven residents of Camellia at Deerwood, an assisted living facility in Duval County, tested positive for the new coronavirus, News4Jax confirmed. Three residents died.
The outbreak led some families to pull their loved ones from the facility and prompted a response from a Florida Department of Health incident command team in March.
The Clay Health Department said the same team that was brought to Duval County was also at one of the facilities in Clay County a few weeks ago and the team could be sent back soon.
At least nine people at an assisted living facility in Baker County have also tested positive for COVID-19.