PALM HARBOR, Fla. _ A second adult care center in Pinellas County has reported a flare-up of COVID-19 cases, according to an email the county administrator's office sent to commissioners Monday.
Thirteen residents and eight staff members tested positive for the disease at St. Mark Village in Palm Harbor, the email said. Monday afternoon, at least seven patients were expected to be transferred to a hospital, records show.
St. Mark Village asked the county and state for help with a flare-up of COVID-19 cases this past weekend, Doug Fresh, chief executive of the center, told the Tampa Bay Times. A patient tested positive April 10 in a skilled-care wing unit that accommodates about 20 patients. Fresh said he also asked the governor's office to send a National Guard Strike Team to test about 100 employees who worked in the wing.
The rise in cases at St. Mark Village follows an outbreak last week at Freedom Square of Seminole, where three nursing home residents died.
The sprawling Freedom Square retirement community has seen dozens hospitalized because of the virus, officials said. A total of 95 residents have been removed from its Seminole Pavilion Rehabilitation nursing home, which will be closed and decontaminated.
Monday's email to Pinellas County Commissioners signals the second large outbreak in an assisted living center or nursing home in the county.
"Families are being contacted by the facility and our EMS team is being deployed to assist in the transfer of the patients to local hospitals," Monday's email said. "As with the Seminole situation, teams will continue to monitor and assist the facility."
The skilled nursing center at St. Mark Village has 80 patient beds. About 59 patients are in the separate nursing center, Fresh said. Patients who tested positive were isolated from other patients. Those awaiting transport were headed to Mease Countryside Hospital, he added.
"We were very stable," Fresh said. "This is just to give us help. We want to do what's right."
St. Mark Village was faulted in September by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for three problems with hygiene practices.
A nursing assistant failed to observe proper procedures while wearing an un-cleanable hand brace, yearly infection control training was not conducted, and there was no staff education upon discovery of head lice in four patients, according an inspection report.
Pinellas County Commission Chair Pat Gerard said the county expects to receive help from the National Guard to test people for the virus, but she does not yet know the details.
Outbreaks occurring in nursing homes, Gerard said, "is a dangerous situation."
County health officials are concerned about employees who work in a number of buildings at adult care centers like St. Mark Village or Freedom Square of Seminole. They could unknowingly carry the virus to different wings.
St. Mark Village was one of 44 Tampa Bay centers named on a list Gov. Ron DeSantis released Saturday of nursing homes and assisted living facilities that have reported cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
The list included the names of 303 facilities around Florida, each labeled by county. Not provided are key details, such as how many cases per facility, whether the cases represent residents or staff, and which of the facilities listed have had deaths.
Five of those nearly four dozen facilities told the Times on Monday they had three or fewer positive cases.
An employee at Freedom Plaza in Sun City Center told a manager they weren't feeling well on March 30, was tested and did not return to the office, Executive Director Angie Roher wrote in an email. The employee's test came back positive on April 3. A letter was sent to all residents and employees later that day communicating the news.
Elsewhere in Hillsborough, three individuals, including two roommates, tested positive at Rocky Creek Village, administrator Joseph Giani said. One employee, who did not regularly interact with patients, has been self-quarantining at home. The two residents, both men, did not show symptoms. One was admitted to the hospital, but released three days later after two tests showed he was negative, Giani said.
Staff called relatives of each resident to inform them of the positive cases. One woman decided to take her mother home following the news, Giani said. She will have to show proof of a negative test before she can return to the facility. One was admitted to the hospital, but released three days later after two tests showed he was negative.
While some facilities were transparent about the number of cases and circumstances around them, three others, like Brookdale Bradenton Gardens, would not provide additional details but provided vague statements confirming the cases.
"The center has been advised that a number of residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19," wrote Susan Kaar, Vice President for Southern Healthcare Management, which includes Riviera Palms Rehabilitation Center and Braden River Rehabilitation Center in Manatee. Both were on the governor's list.
Kaar did not answer how many individuals tested positive at each location, whether they were hospitalized or had recovered, whether they were staff or residents, or whether the facilities had shared this information with family members of residents.
Similarly, Brookdale Senior Living said more than one member of the Bradenton Gardens facility had tested positive, but would not provide specifics. Heather Hunter, public relations manager for Brookdale, said the facility has been in regular contact with the family point of contacts for residents and that they are welcome to have personal conversations with the executive director.
The 21 cases at St. Mark Village was the largest number so far in the Times roundup.
Administrators at four other facilities told the Times they had no recorded COVID-19 cases, despite the governor's announcement this weekend: Belleair Health Care Center, Heron House Assisted Living Center, Crown Court in Inverness and Grand Villa of New Port Richey. BayCare Health officials said the inclusion of Morton Plant Rehabilitation Center was "inconsistent with past guidance we have received from the state Department of Health," as a worker who had not been in the facility for more than two weeks tested positive.
"The center immediately contacted the health department and was advised that because initial symptoms emerged more than 72 hours after the team member's last shift at the facility, no exposure would have occurred and notification requirements did not apply," wrote Baycame communications manager Liza Razler in an email to the Times.
Heron House Assisted Living in Largo has not had any positive COVID-19 tests and doesn't know why the center made the statewide list, a spokeswoman said.
Cary Jensen, the owner of Crown Court in Inverness, said a resident of the facility was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia and tested negative for COVID-19. The patient, a man, was later listed "presumptive positive," according to Jensen, though he was never confirmed positive.
That was more than five weeks ago, Jensen said, and since then there have been no cases. He said "there's a glitch in the system," and he's working with the Florida Department of Health to correct it.
John Moschner, president of SenCare Management, has been posting regular video updates on the Grand Villa website, announced in a Sunday video that the New Port Richey location was listed.
"Please know that this is an error, and we are contacting authorities to have this corrected," he said. "Please be assured that we have not had any residents of staff at Grand Villa of New Port Richey test positive for the COVID-19 virus."
