MANATEE COUNTY –Just when it appeared safer, the numbers took a turn for the worse.
Manatee County reported a record 288 positive cases on one day July 3.
As of July 1, 3,156 people in the county tested positive for the novel coronavirus of 41,788 people tested. As of June 26, there were 2,002 positive cases of 34,662 people tested.
The county ranked 11th of 67 counties for positive cases, a status held since May.
Since March in Manatee County, 272 people have been hospitalized and 130 people have died due to the virus while 1,103 were reported recovered, according to DOH-Manatee reporting June 26.
Additionally, 19 nonresidents visiting the county tested positive as of July 1, compared with seven infected nonresidents at the end of May.
Nonresidents are people who test positive in Florida but are residents of another state.
As of July 1, nine people in Bradenton Beach, seven people in Holmes Beach and one person in Anna Maria tested positive. The numbers are up from the end of May, when one person each in Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach had tested positive.
To slow the spread of the virus, elected officials in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach, as well as Longboat Key, approved orders mandating face coverings when social distancing cannot be maintained, with some exceptions.
Bradenton Beach has not discussed a mandate for masks.
Manatee County discussed but did not mandate masks, despite the uptick in positive cases, which Jake Saur, county director of public safety, said is not due to increased testing, as testing has remained at about the same rate since June 1. Positive cases have increased in a younger population and more tests seems unconnected, according to Saur.
At a county commission meeting in April, Josh Barnett, county health care services manager, shared data that showed the county must test 10% of its population — about 40,000 people — for an accurate sample to gauge spread.
The county met its testing goal July 1, but was still struggling to contain the spread of the virus after the state entered phase 2 of its coronavirus recovery plan June 5.
The plan included the reopening of bars and gyms and lessened restrictions at restaurants and retail stores. Twenty-one days later, June 26, the state ordered bars to cease selling alcohol for on-site consumption due to the increase in positive cases.
The state also ramped up — but did not mandate — the push for face coverings and social distancing.
A Florida Surgeon General’s advisory states, “All individuals in Florida should wear face coverings in any setting where social distancing is not possible.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends people wear cloth face coverings in public settings when exposed to people outside of their household, especially when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
The virus mainly is spread person to person, by respiratory droplets and multiple studies show wearing masks in public corresponds is one of the most effective means to prevent inter-human transmission.
County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, a nurse and former mayor of Holmes Beach, said July 1 that she supported the mask mandate that failed to pass her board, as well as the mandates passed in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach.
“People are here on the island on vacation and I am very concerned they are not taking this seriously and wearing masks,” she said. “No one is immune to this. COVID-19 doesn’t care if you are a tourist or a resident. It’s like a wildfire.”
Where can islanders go for testing?
The closest coronavirus testing site to Anna Maria Island is at Home Depot, 2350 Cortez Road, Bradenton.
The testing site in the parking lot is open seven days a week — 9 a.m.-5 p.m. or until the limit of 100 tests per day is reached.
Specimens are sent to Quest Diagnostics and results become available within 5–7 days.
Testing is free and available to anyone over the age of 18, regardless of symptoms.
Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, breathing trouble, sore throat, muscle pain and loss of taste or smell.
Most people develop only mild symptoms.
But some people, usually those with other medical complications, can develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.
— ChrisAnn Allen