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00000177-b32b-d5f4-a5ff-bbfb6e660000Here is the information you need to know about COVID-19 in Northwest Florida. We will keep this post updated with the latest information from local, and statewide agencies. For inforamtion from Centers for Disease Control and prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirusFor updates on Florida cases of coronavirus, visit the FDOH dashboard.The COVID-19 call center is available at 24/7 at 1-866-779-6121

More Coronavirus Testing In Escambia County, Brownsville Site To Open

CDC

Testing for COVID-19 in Escambia County is ramping up. Earlier this week, Ascension Sacred Heart began a drive-through testing operation. Now, the local capacity for coronavirus testing is widening, as other local health care prepare to offer testing as well.

“We do realize that this is a community problem and collaboratively we will attack it, we will address it and we will beat it. Together we will stand,” said Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May of his rationale for bringing together the leaders of the area’s major hospitals and community health provider to discuss their plans to expand coronavirus screening.

It was by design that the announcement was made at the community center in the underserved area of Brownsville.

“This came out of a partnership that we believe that resources need to be in every neighborhood. After much conversation with my friend Mark Faulkner (Baptist) and Chandra Smiley (Community Health NW FL), we decided we would do something to benefit the entire neighborhood,” May said.

“Community Health Northwest Florida is here to take care of those that are most vulnerable. Last year we took care of over 53,000 individuals in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties,” said Chandra Smiley, chief executive officer of Community Health Northwest Florida, leading to the announcement of a partnership with Ascension Sacred Heart to bring a mobile testing site to Brownsville.

“Our main service location is Jackson Street, so many of our patients live in this area,” Smiley responded in reference to why they selected the Brownsville area for the testing.

“So, with Sacred Heart, we felt like Sacred could kind of take care of people on the east side. We could offer an access point on the west side, so it just made sense.”

Smiley says their alignment with Sacred Heart will include the sharing of resources and practices.

“We’ll be using the same call in center phone number, 850-746-2684. The same process and protocols will be in place for this mobile testing site,” she said, adding that individuals must first call and go through the telephonic screening process in order to be referred to the mobile testing site.”

The COVID-19 testing in Brownsville will begin Monday, Mar. 23, with hours of operation from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and call-in-screening from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., in line with Sacred Heart. 

Credit Sandra Averhart / WUWF Public Media
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WUWF Public Media
Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May and Chandra Smiley, CEO of Community Health Northwest Florida, announce plans to open mobile COVID-19 testing at Brownsville Community Center.

“In the first two days, about 28% of the individuals that called met the CDC screening criteria and needed to be tested,” said Justin Labrato, chief operating officer for Ascension Sacred Heart, as he provided an update on the coronavirus testing they started on Monday.

“The actual drive-through testing facility in Pensacola, in the first two days, we saw 211 patients there; 61 on Monday, 150 yesterday (Tues). This (Wed.) morning I was there and we actually had to open 30 minutes early. We saw 70 patients in 90 minutes.”

In addition to the in-house testing for patients at each medical facility, West Florida Hospital is assessing their options for establishing a stand- alone testing site.

Baptist Health Care President and CEO Mark Faulkner says they plan to offer coronavirus testing within a couple of days.

“We are standing up a freestanding testing center, opening by the end of the week,” Faulkner proclaimed.

In explaining the process, Faulkner says Baptist patients who’d like to be tested will have to be screened by the physician, in line with CDC criteria. If testing is recommended, individuals will be directed to a location with an appointment, where they’ll be brought in and offered the testing.

Baptist is planning a 7-day a week operation.

Dr. John Lanza, director of the Florida Department of Health, says the state has received hundreds of thousands of tests for processing. He believes says the increase in testing could also come with a greater participation in the lab processing, which could yield test results much sooner.

“The speed of the results from the test will depend on how quickly the local hospitals and other organizations can come on line to do the tests locally. So, what now may take two, three or four days, may not take less than a day or maybe two days.”

Thus far, each of the local hospitals has relied on the Department of Health labs, with Baptist and West Florida also using commercial labs such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, to run the samples. In addition to state labs, Sacred Heart has relied on their Ascension regional labs.

Each of them are now evaluating internal capabilities and the availability of materials to be able to conduct the complete the testing process.

To date, there’s been one confirmed case of coronavirus in Escambia County.

Elsewhere across the region, there are now four reported case in Okaloosa County. Walton County has recorded its first case of COVID-19. The only case in Santa Rosa was a man who died.

Sandra Averhart has been News Director at WUWF since 1996. Her first job in broadcasting was with (then) Pensacola radio station WOWW107-FM, where she worked 11 years. Sandra, who is a native of Pensacola, earned her B.S. in Communication from Florida State University.