On September 1, the Florida Division of Emergency Management Issued an Emergency Order to lift visitation restrictions in nursing Homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities.
This order comes from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push for a return to normalcy. For these visitation restrictions to be lifted, each facility must meet certain criteria.
According to the Florida Department of Health this list includes:
- “No new facility-onset of resident COVID-19 cases within 14 days other than in a dedicated wing or unit that accepts COVID-19 cases from the community;
- If a staff member tests positive for COVID-19, the facility must immediately cease all indoor and outdoor visitation in the event that staff person was in the facility in the 10 days prior to the positive test;
- Sufficient staff to support management of visitors;
- Adequate PPE for facility staff;
- Adequate cleaning and disinfecting supplies; and
- Adequate capacity at referral hospitals for the facility.”
General visitors must be 18 years or older, comply with social distancing, wear a facial covering, comply with COVID-19 testing on-site if offered and may not display any symptoms or be quarantining.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the main demographic of those dying are from the 85+ age group. Currently, there are 11,501 deaths in Florida with 1,134 coming from Palm Beach County.
There are 633,442 total cases of COVID-19 with 42,518 in Palm Beach County.