ORANGE PARK, Fla. – News4Jax received numerous calls and emails following our report about patients testing positive for COVID-19 at Clay County long-term care facilities.
But the number of cases at the Heartland Health Care Center in Orange Park, which confirmed one diagnosis of novel coronavirus, is still unclear.
One family member, who asked to remain anonymous, said Heartland Health Care was transparent with them after learning about their loved one’s positive testing. But they still have questions about how the facility is moving forward protecting residents and staff.
They found out their family member tested positive Wednesday. They said Heartland Health Care told them 30 people at the facility tested positive.
“They said well we’re taking out the roommate of the COVID patient. That day they started testing every resident, and the results came in and we got a call saying that our father was positive,” the family member told News4Jax.
Sunday was the first day Clay County long-term care facilities didn’t see an increase in cases in the last week. This comes after the number of cases tripled in a 24 hour period. As of Sunday morning, there were 57 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported at long-term care facilities in Clay County.
The numbers rising as test results came in, but many people still unsure of which facilities accounted for them.
“I think it’s wrong to not list the name of the facility with COVID-19 patients," said one Facebook commenter.
Using Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard, clicking on the cases by ZIP code, finding Clay County, we decided to go with 32073, or the post office area name Orange Park. There were 64 cases in that ZIP code as of Sunday morning.
We then searched at least five long term care facilities in that ZIP code.
The Heartland Health Care Center confirmed one case of the virus in their facility on Saturday. Since then, News4Jax has received multiple calls from people with loved ones in Heartland saying they tested positive.
Another person wanted to know which facilities have the cases because their mother-in-law is in an assisted living facility and they are not being helpful with information.
Holding off on admissions is just one thing Heartland is doing amid these cases.
They tell News4Jax they have designated a section in the facility specifically for persons with the virus.