The vaccination rate for Florida nursing home staff is among the lowest in the nation at 47 percent and hiring is already difficult.

The Florida House on Wednesday gave tentative approval for long-term care facilities to substitute a new class of employees, known as personal care attendants, for some of the duties of certified nursing assistants.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville-area musician has a creative way to share her piano recital during the holiday season; Liz Deal Music is hitting the web. Liz Deal is helping people stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic by hosting virtual piano lessons and recitals. In the past, the musician had recitals in churches, nursing homes and retirement communities, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, that’s not possible in 2020. Deal wanted to spread the Christmas cheer by sharing the videos with local nursing homes, retirement communities, missions and others. If you know of a place that would like a link to this YouTube playlist, contact Deal at mailto:lizdealmusic@gmail.com.

ATLANTA – For the first time since April, some families will be able to visit relatives in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in Georgia under new rules for the coronavirus approved by the governor. Brian Kemp signed an executive order Tuesday that lifts a ban on visitors implemented on April 8, but not for all long-term care facilities. In other counties, care facilities that meet certain criteria, including testing residents and staff, can allow visitors, but only outdoors. The lifting of visitation restrictions on long-term care facilities in Georgia were part of a new executive order signed by Kemp for the coronavirus. Besides the University of Georgia, large outbreaks have been reported at Georgia Southern University, with more than 1,000 cases, and Georgia College & State University, with 680 cases.

FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. A Fleming Island woman is fighting to have bed alarms installed in long-term care facilities after she said her father fell several times at the one where he is living, which has caused his health to rapidly decline. He said the Federal Government changed the classification on bed alarms, in facilities, in 2017. "It now appears the federal regulation guidelines stipulate that these types of bed alarms are classified as physical restraint," Lee. Herbert has created a petition online to allow bed alarms in facilities to prevent families from going through this in the future. They are one step closer to seeing and potentially touching their loved ones in long-term care centers.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Nearly 70 percent of the states nursing homes will receive rapid test kits from the federal government in the coming weeks after being identified by regulators as having increased risks for COVID-19 infections. And of the 693 nursing homes in the state, 471 are included on the test-kit distribution list. The Agency for Health Care Administration referred questions about the numbers to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of the nursing homes that responded, just four said the test kits had arrived. Florida has required nursing homes, and assisted living facilities, to test their staff members twice a month.

Ron DeSantis banned most visits to long-term care facilities in the state, in order to protect elderly and vulnerable residents. Despite those measures, cases have been confirmed in facilities across the state, with more than 1,100 deaths connected to long-term care facilities. Once a week, the state provides a separate report on the number of deaths at long-term care facilities across the state. We are including that data for Northeast Florida facilities in a separate list below. Coronavirus deaths in northeast Florida long-term care facilities: