Escambia County COVID-19 Update #268

Updated at  3:30 p.m. Jan. 29:

For prior updates, visit myescambia.com/news#coronavirus.

Escambia County

• Hospital Information totals
  • Hospitalizations 185 (current hospitalizations as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2021)
  • Bed Capacity 1,397  (county SITREP)
  • Bed Occupancy 1,128  (county SITREP)
  • Beds Available 362 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2021)
  • Total Ventilators 215 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2021)
  • Available Ventilators 142 (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2021)
  • Recovered 23,068* (Approximate: total cases prior to last month minus deaths)
  • 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 98.12% (as of 2:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2021)
  • As of Friday, Jan. 29, there have been 25,258 vaccinations distributed throughout the entire county (via the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County, hospitals, closed points of disbursements, independent living facilities, long-term care facilities and pilot programs). This number has been added to the Escambia County COVID-19 dashboard.

• Testing sites
• Vaccination Information 
• Rapid testing information
• Escambia County dashboard
• Vaccination Contact Information for Adults 65 and Older:
  • Florida Department of Health, Escambia County- FDOH-Escambia will schedule appointments based on supply availability. For the most up-to-date information, follow us on Twitter at @HealthyEscambia and visit EscambiaHealth.com.
  • Ascension Sacred Heart- Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart began vaccinations for adults 65 and older on Jan. 6. Monitor the Sacred Heart Facebook page for announcements. They will continue to hold clinics as supply becomes available.
  • Florida- Sign up for text message updates about the vaccine and distribution by texting "FLCOVID19" to 888777. After you submit the text message, it will ask you to supply your zip code for local-level updates. Information about the statewide vaccine distribution plan can be found at floridahealthcovid19.gov/covid-19-vaccines-in-florida/.
  • Publix - Publix will continue to announce appointment dates. Monitor Publix's online portal here.

Escambia County Corrections

• Cumulatively, 1,041 Escambia County inmates have been tested:
  • 236 positive (209 have been medically cleared, and 21 have been released from custody, leaving 6 active, positive cases at this time)
  • 805 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

• Today, the state announced the launch of a statewide preregistration system to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for individuals 65 and older and frontline health care workers. Individuals can pre-register for vaccine appointments and be notified when appointments are available in their area by visiting myvaccine.fl.gov. This system works to preregister in Escambia County; however, staff are currently being trained and residents are asked to be patient for a response.

Florida Department of Health in Escambia County

• Currently, FDOH-Escambia does not have a COVID-19 vaccination automated scheduling system or call center. Phone numbers published are unique to each county. When an automated scheduling system becomes available in Escambia County, more information will be published.
• State Surgeon General Scott Rivkees issued a Public Health Advisory on January 21 prioritizing vaccines for residents of the State of Florida or individuals in Florida for the purpose of providing health care services involving direct contact with patients.
• FDOH-Escambia highlights recent efforts in providing the COVID-19 vaccine in Escambia County.
• FDOH-Escambia announced this week's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan in Escambia County in partnership with Ascension Sacred Heart, Baptist Health Care, Community Health Northwest Florida, and West Florida Hospital.
• FDOH-Escambia announced the temporary closure of its COVID-19 vaccination online interest form. We continue to work through the list of individuals who previously completed the online form. As supply becomes available, FDOH-Escambia staff will schedule appointments. We encourage residents to take advantage of opportunities offered through other partners to get vaccinated.
• Florida has launched a COVID-19 Vaccine Report that will be updated daily. As of January 29, 25,258 Escambia County residents have been vaccinated.
• 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. 29, Escambia County has had 30,381 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 518 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.
• The Florida Health Department has a brand new COVID-19 vaccine locator site. The new site will allow Floridians to find vaccine sites by county or city and contains contact information for each location. See all locations here - http://ow.ly/k0FX50De10y

Florida Division of Emergency Management

• FDEM is seeking volunteers that can administer the vaccine such as doctors, nurses and physician assistants. Please register at www.merits.com/fdem-volunteers, choose the county and then signup.