People With Virus Antibodies May Soon Visit Florida Nursing Homes

JACKSONVILLE, FL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he thinks people with antibodies to the coronavirus should be allowed to visit the state's 150,000 residents of long-term care facilities who have not been permitted to see loved ones since the outset of the pandemic.

"If you test positive for that, we know that confers a certain level of immunity — most people think about six months at a minimum," the governor said, speaking at a roundtable discussion in Jacksonville. "We have not had anyone be reinfected."

The governor said a committee was formed to look at ways to ease the mental health and social isolation of people living in long-term care facilities.

One member of the committee, Mary Daniel of Jacksonville, took a job as a dishwasher in a long-term care facility to be near her husband, who reportedly suffers from Alzheimer's.

"I just want to make something very clear: I'm looking for a real hug. I'm not looking for a virtual hug," Daniel told the governor. "I've been lucky enough to get that from my husband, the absolute best hug of my life .... Our goal is to get to our loved ones. They need a hug from us, not a picture of me on FaceTime, not me in the window. They need us."

DeSantis said the ban on visitors to long-term care facilities has now been in place for 4-and-a-half months and affects all residents.

"We've had residents of long-term care facilities who have passed away from things other than coronavirus," the governor said. "They have not had the ability to have family members visiting them. They have not had the type of human contact which really makes a difference to people who have those conditions."

Florida health officials reported a total of 7,402 deaths from the virus as of Tuesday, up from 7,157 deaths a day earlier. That's an increase of 245 new deaths over the previous 24-hour period. State officials also reported another 124 deaths involving non-Florida residents who died in the state.

Health officials reported 497,330 total cases of the virus, up from 491,884 cases a day earlier. That represents an increase of 5,446 new cases of the virus over the previous 24 hours though many of the test sites in the state were shut down ahead of then Hurricane Isaias.

Health officials reported 27,952 hospitalizations as of Tuesday, up from 27,366 hospitalizations over the previous 24 hours. That represents an increase of 586 more hospitalizations than reported a day earlier.

Forty-three of Florida's 67 counties reported new deaths Tuesday.That compares with 74 new deaths Monday, 63 new deaths Sunday, 179 new deaths Saturday, 270 new deaths Friday (state health officials reported 257), 253 new deaths Thursday, 216 new deaths reported Wednesday and 185 new deaths reported last Tuesday (Florida health officials reported 186).

Miami-Dade County reported 30 new deaths. Palm Beach County reported 16 new deaths. Neighboring Broward County reported 17 new deaths. Those three counties are considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak.

Hillsborough County reported 21 new deaths. Pinellas County reported 18 new deaths. Bay County reported 15 new deaths as did Polk County. Lee County reported 12 new deaths as did Marion County. Osceola County reported seven new deaths as did Sarasota County.

Brevard County reported six new deaths as did Santa Rosa County. Collier County reported five new deaths as did St. Lucie County, Citrus County reported four new deaths as did Escambia County, Hernando County and Okaloosa County.

Martin County reported three new deaths as did Sumter County. Alachua County reported two new deaths as did Columbia County, Duval County, Flagler County, Indian River County, Monroe County, Orange County, Pasco County and Volusia County.

Clay County reported one new death as did Desoto County, Gadsden County, Highlands County, Lake County, Levy County, Putnam County, Seminole County, St. Johns County, Suwannee County, Taylor County, Walton County and Washington County.

Florida reported a 13.12 percent positive test rate for the virus Tuesday as the number of tests reached 3,790,202.

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Miami-Dade, which includes Miami and Miami Beach, reported 124,759 cases of the virus. Nearby Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, reported 58,953 cases. Palm Beach County, which includes Palm Beach, West Palm and Boca Raton, reported 34,929 cases.

Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, reported 30,798 cases. Orange County, which includes Orlando, reported 30,140 cases.

In an effort to provide as much information to our readers as possible, Patch is publishing the following county-by-county breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Florida's 67 counties, along with the median age of patients, the number of hospital cases by county and the number of deaths.

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Patch updates this chart once each day based on data provided by the Florida Department of Health. The counties that reported new deaths on Tuesday are shown in bold.

Here is the most recent data: