TAMPA, Fla — Too many people are dying, and action must be taken now. That’s the idea behind new emergency rules issued by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Every nursing home and assisted living facility in the state will now be required to allow in members of the Florida Department of Health “for the purpose of infection prevention and control, including mandated COVID-19 testing of both on-duty and off-duty staff.”
“The challenge we face is mitigating and containing the spread of this deadly virus in our long-term care facilities,” AHCA Secretary Mary Mayhew said Sunday in a news release.
According to the Florida Department of Health, 703 residents and staff at long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
10Investigates determined four of the 10 facilities with the highest numbers of death are in the Tampa Bay area.
Related coverage:
What other people are reading right now:
- Drunk driver jumped median, crashed into 2 cruisers, deputies say
- Coast Guard busts illegal charter boat on Mother's Day weekend
- Forget it was Mother's Day? Here are some last-second gift ideas
- Here's how to celebrate a socially distant Mother's Day
- Barbershops, nail and hair salons will reopen May 11 in Florida
- Florida could move into Phase 2 in a few weeks if data supports it
- Unemployed Floridians required to resume making biweekly benefits requests
- Coronavirus in context: Florida COVID-19 cases explained in 5 charts
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter