Escambia County COVID-19 Update #250

Updated at 3 p.m. Jan. 4:

For prior updates, visit https://myescambia.com/news and search by keyword: coronavirus.

Ascension Sacred Heart
A COVID-19 vaccination event will occur on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola. Additional information will be released on how individuals 65 and older can register for this event.

Escambia County

• Hospital Information totals
  • Hospitalizations 248 (current hospitalizations as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4, 2021)
  • Bed Capacity 1,397 (as of 10:45 a.m. Jan. 4, 2021 (county SITREP)
  • Bed Occupancy 1,083 (as of 10:45 a.m. Jan. 4, 2021 (county SITREP) 
  • Beds Available 350 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4, 2021)
  • Total Ventilators 215 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4, 2021)
  • Available Ventilators 142 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4, 2021)
  • To view the county's Crude Case-Recovery Risk and a detailed explanation of the formula by which it is calculated, visit the Escambia County COVID-19 dashboard. The current Crude Case-Recovery Risk is 98.18% (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4, 2021)

• Testing sites
• Rapid testing information
• Escambia County dashboard

Escambia County Corrections

• Cumulatively, 873 Escambia County inmates have been tested:
  • 217 positive (196 have been medically cleared, and 17 have been released from custody, leaving four active, positive cases at this time)
  • 656 negative
  • 0 pending
• At the Walton County jail, 29 Escambia County inmates tested positive out of the 146 inmates housed there.  

Florida Department of Health in Escambia County

• FDOH-Escambia announced its COVID-19 Vaccination Program. COVID-19 vaccines are currently being prioritized for health care providers with direct patient contact and persons 65 years of age and older. If you are in one of these groups and interested in receiving a vaccine, please complete the Vaccination Request Form. Completion of this form confirms interest in vaccination. It does not secure an appointment for vaccination. FDOH-Escambia will schedule appointments based on supply availability.

• FDOH-Escambia’s testing site is free to all Florida residents with or without symptoms. Pre-screening is not required. COVID-19 testing holiday schedule is open from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. CST on Monday, Jan.4 and Thursday, Jan. 7 at 1300 W. Gregory St., Pensacola, FL 32502. Dates are subject to change due to inclement weather or shortage of supplies. For more information, please visit the dedicated COVID-19 webpage.

• The Florida Department of Health (the Department) issued a Public Health Advisory recommending the following: all individuals in Florida should wear face coverings in any setting where social distancing is not possible, and all individuals should refrain from participation in social or recreational gatherings of more than 10 people.
• As of 2 p.m., Jan. 4, Escambia County has had 23,378 positive COVID-19 cases.  This number is expected to change daily due to the return of results from ongoing testing. The best source for up-to-date information regarding confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida is the Florida Department of Health website and the associated Data and Surveillance Dashboard and Daily Report. The site is currently updated once daily, at around 2 p.m. CT.
• The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in Escambia County residents is 384 individuals.
• The Department releases a list of long-term care facilities in Florida associated with COVID-19 cases with active cases and number of deaths in each facility in order to provide real-time data. The list of long-term care facilities with active COVID-19 cases is available here.
• The Florida Department of Health has launched Healthy Together, a mobile app that can help a person view their test results, assess their symptoms and learn what to do after they have been tested for COVID-19. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store by searching for “Healthy Together”. Individuals whose results are uploaded into Healthy Together with a phone number will automatically receive a text notifying them that their results are available in the app. 
• Florida has launched a COVID-19 Vaccine Report that will be updated daily at http://FloridaHealthCOVID19.gov. This report includes a breakdown of who has received the vaccine by age, race, sex and county. As of Dec. 27, 11:59 p.m., 1,412 Escambia County residents have received the first vaccine dose. 
• Governor Ron DeSantis has signed Executive Order 20-315 which outlines that providers can only administer the COVID-19 vaccine to the following groups:
  • Long-term care facility residents and staff.
  • Persons 65 years of age and older.
  • Health care personnel with direct patient contact.
  • Persons deemed to be extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 by hospital providers.

Governor's Updates

• Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced four new actions the state is undertaking as it enters the fourth week of a proactive approach to increase vaccinations, especially for Floridians 65 and older.
  (#2 references yesterday's event at the Brownsville Community Center) 
  Deploying the vaccine into underserved communities.
  Governor DeSantis has directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to identify places of worship and other locations in underserved communities where the vaccine may be administered. Florida has already begun a pilot program in Escambia County, where over 500 seniors have received their vaccine and have been scheduled for their booster shot, which they will receive at the same location.