The state will no longer provide testing to the workers who staff long-term care facilities and it’s beginning to phase out so-called isolation centers, where nursing home and eldercare patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were sent to curb outbreaks at facilities statewide. RELATED: Jacksonville facility caring for COVID-19 patients from Florida’s long-term care facilitiesStarting Friday, the state stopped admitting patients to 18 of 23 isolation centers throughout the state. A News4Jax search of Florida Department of Health records shows that cases in long-term care facilities peaked in July with 5,877 residents and 7,298 employee testing positive. The state ended its contract with the vendor providing testing to long-term care facilities, even as a panel formed by Gov. Lee expressed concerns about how relaxing policies protecting long-term care facilities could impact the health and safety of their residents and the employees who take care of them.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Isolation facilities for Floridas most vulnerable COVID-19 patients have taken in hundreds of elderly people who are being treated for the coronavirus. As of Tuesday, Dolphin Pointe, a facility in Jacksonville, had more patients being treated for COVID-19 in the state than any other of the facilities. It has the second highest number of beds of any COVID-19 isolation center in the state. Based on data provided Tuesday by Dolphin Pointe, 161 people who tested positive for COVID-19 transferred from a hospital to Dolphin Pointe. According to AHCA, hospitals, nursing facilities and assisted living facilities have the authority to request to discharge patients to these COVID-19 isolation centers.