People are getting restless.
But Manatee County has a ways to go before social distancing measures intended to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus are lifted.
Foremost, the county must test a higher percentage of the population — about 37,000 more people — before securing accurate data.
The Florida Department of Health reported 417 confirmed positive cases in the county as of April 19, out of 2,445 people tested, totaling 17.1%. Two of the positive cases are not Florida residents.
The department reported 26,314 positive cases statewide April 19, out of 262,495 people tested, totaling 10.1%.
A Holmes Beach resident was the first known person to test positive from Anna Maria Island. By April 19, two people tested positive on the island — one in Holmes Beach and one in Bradenton Beach.
Also as of April 19, Manatee County ranked 10th in positive cases out of 67 counties and 31 county residents died due to the virus, totaling 7.4% of positive cases resulting in death, compared with 2.9% statewide.
Of the deaths in Manatee County, 13 were residents or staff of long-term care facilities.
Statewide 774 people had died of COVID-19, as of April 19.
Projections the week of April 6 predicted the state peak in cases would be April 21, according to the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation.
However, projections April 17 pushed the surge in fatalities and medical equipment needs to May 3.
Jacob Saur, the county’s public safety director, told county commissioners meeting via Zoom April 17 that while Hillsborough County had the most positive cases in the Tampa Bay region when broken down by ZIP code. Manatee County ZIP code 34208, with 66 positive cases, ranked highest per capita in positive cases in the state.
Joshua Barnett, county health care services manager, who was tracking and analyzing statistics, said that due to a larger elderly population, the risk of death of positive patients is four per 100,000 people in the county, compared with 2.4 per 100,000 in the state.
Also, 60% of positive cases in the county affected people ages 45-84.
The number of deaths from COVID-19 doubled in Manatee County April 8-15, according to a chart provided by Barnett.
He said the county had a 60% increase in positive tests April 8-15, compared with 43% statewide.
“In conclusion, Manatee County has not yet achieved the flattening of the curve,” Saur said.
Testing concerns
During the April 17 meeting, County Commissioner Misty Servia asked Saur why Manatee County received less testing than Sarasota County.
As of April 19, 3,417 people were tested in Sarasota County, compared with 2,445 people tested in Manatee County.
Saur said Manatee County recently received specimen collection kits from China that the state said were not usable, and there was a shortage until the state provided more tests.
“The state has run out of tests,” he said.
Saur said he and county administrator Cheri Coryea, and Dr. Jennifer Bencie with the Florida Department of Health Manatee County, planned to meet April 20 with “local private donors” to purchase the next round of testing.
He said long-term care facilities were the county’s top testing concern.
Saur said the state provided instant management teams to care facilities in the county that were pushing tests for workers and residents. He added that the health department placed some facility workers under involuntary quarantine.
“Quarantine” means restricting the movements of individuals who were, or might have been, exposed to a contagious disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has the authority to enforce an involuntary quarantine at home if the individual is a risk to others and refuses voluntary quarantine.
As of April 17, two long-term care facilities accounted for about 25% of the positive cases in the county, and 120 positive cases were documented at eight LTCFs, ranking the county fourth in the state for cases at such facilities.
Saur also said Manatee Memorial Hospital and Manatee County Rural Health Services, both in Bradenton, purchased their own tests.
He said that none of the county testing facilities had rapid testing kits, so results required 5-7 days.
Barnett said the county would need to test 10% of the total population of more than 400,000 people, to accurately gauge spread.
As of April 19, 0.6% of the county’s population had been tested. “Of those who have tested in Manatee County, you really need about a 10% sample of an entire community to statistically estimate with significance what the true impact is,” Barnett said. “And we’re not there yet.”
Saur said testing about 40,000 people in the county “is not going to be possible prior to opening back up and getting back to work.”
Commission Chair Betsy Benac said the county must make increased testing top priority.
“We do have to reach out to our governor. We do have to reach out to our legislators,” Benac said. “We need more testing in Manatee County. We’ve got to turn this corner.”
COVID-19 at area long-term care facilities
The Florida Department of Health website by Florida Division of Emergency Management April 19 reported positive cases of COVID-19 in staff or residents at the following Manatee County long-term care facilities:
- Braden River Rehabilitation Center LLC, 2010 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton;
- Bradenton Health Care, 6305 Cortez Rd. W., Bradenton;
- Brookdale Bradenton Gardens, 5612 26th St. W., Bradenton;
- Casa Mora Rehabilitation and Extended Care, 1902 59th St. W., Bradenton;
- Manatee Springs Rehabilitation and Nursing Center; 5627 9th St. E., Bradenton;
- Residence at Bay Vue, 105 15th St. E., Bradenton;
- Riviera Palms Rehabilitation Center, 926 Haben Blvd., Palmetto;
- Westminster Point Pleasant, 1533 4th Ave. W., Bradenton.
Curfew provides relief for strained first responders
It appears to be working.
Manatee County Commissioners voted in early April to institute a curfew prohibiting nonessential travel 11 p.m.-5 a.m. to reduce the load on first responders handling COVID-19 calls.
Jacob Saur, county public safety director, said April 17 during a livestreamed county meeting on COVID-19 plans that EMS calls were 40% lower when compared with the same period in 2019. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office experienced a 15% reduction in calls during curfew hours.
As of April 17, more than 50 EMS personnel had experienced exposure since the pandemic was identified in the county March 1, requiring isolation and quarantine in some instances.
Saur said the decrease in calls “created the relief we’ve needed over the last week.”
— ChrisAnn Allen
Manatee County COVID-19 cases by city, ZIP code
According to the Florida Department of Health website by Florida Division of Emergency Management April 19, positive cases of COVID-19 in Manatee County were reported by city as:
- 304 Bradenton;
- 50 Palmetto;
- 14 Ellenton;
- 13 Parrish;
- 13 Sarasota/Manatee;
- 6 Lakewood Ranch;
- 5 missing data;
- 4 Longboat Key;
- 2 Myakka City;
- 1 Holmes Beach;
- 1 Bradenton Beach;
- 1 Palma Sola;
- 1 Tallevast.
Cases by ZIP code were reported as:
- 34201: <5;
- 34202: 26;
- 34203: 40;
- 34205: 25;
- 34207: 40;
- 34208: 137;
- 34209: 16;
- 34210: 5-9;
- 34211: 5-9;
- 34212: 16;
- 34215: 0;
- 34216: 0;
- 34217: <5;
- 34219: 13;
- 34221: 50;
- 34222: 14;
- 34228: <5;
- 34243: 0;
- 34250: 0;
- 34251: <5.