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Ocala
Thursday, March 28, 2024

13 test positive for COVID-19 virus at long-term care facilities in Ocala

Nine employees and four residents of long-term care facilities in Ocala have tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Statistics that were released for the first time Tuesday by the Florida Department of Health shows that seven of the employees work at Palm Garden of Ocala, where one resident and another one who transferred out of the facility also tested positive. An employee at Brookdale Canopy Oaks and another at Pacifica Senior Living Ocala also tested positive.

Seven employees at Palm Garden of Ocala have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Four staff members and one resident of long-term care facilities in The Villages have tested positive for the Coronavirus. Three of the staff members work at Serenades in The Villages and the fourth works at Buffalo Crossing Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, where a patient who tested positive also transferred out of the facility.

A third Sumter County facility, Osprey Point Nursing Center, reported two patients suffering from the virus, including one who transferred out of the Bushnell-based center.

Four Lake County facilities with COVID-19 cases also were identified in the report. They are:

  • AdventHealth Care Center Waterman in Tavares (one staff member);
  • Lake Eustis Health and Rehabilitation Center (one employee);
  • Superior Residences of Clermont (one employee); and
  • The Cove at Tavares Village (one resident who transferred out of the facility).

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently had ordered the list of long-term care facilities with COVID-19 cases released to the media. That original report didn’t offer any details about the breakdown of patients nor the number per facility. A second report listed the number of patients connected to long-term care facilities in each county but also didn’t offer specific information.

DeSantis had promised to review the report and apparently gave the order to release more detailed information. He said in a recent press conference that there had been some hesitancy to release the information at the state level because of privacy issues but he thought it was important for family members of those in long-term care facilities to have those kind of pertinent details.