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Coronavirus cases in Tampa Bay area care centers: What's being done to protect seniors?

10Investigates has learned there've been 250 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide in residents or staff at long-term care facilities.

TAMPA, Fla. — Our older loved ones are at a higher risk for COVID-19 and that has a lot of us worried about those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

The order stopping visitors was one of the first to go into effect last month after the pandemic hit. The hope is the order will stop the spread of coronavirus to this vulnerable population.

“We used to take her out to dinner and shopping and all these things. And now basically we're reduced to FaceTiming which is kind of difficult for her,” said Pam Nobles.

Her mother is in an assisted living facility in Florida. For the past few weeks, Pam hasn’t been able to visit her mother, and she’s not sure when she’ll be able to visit again

“Who knows what’s going on behind closed doors in nursing homes,” said Brian Lee.

He is the executive director of Families for Better Care. It’s an advocacy group that works to protect lives of residents that live-in long-term facilities.

“We can’t go in the facilities. So there’s family advocacy right now to make sure nursing homes are doing what they need to do," Lee said.

10Investigates has learned, statewide, there have been 250 confirmed coronavirus cases in residents or staff of long-term care facilities. Here’s what it looks like in the Tampa Bay area.

“You should also check out past inspections,” Lee said.

Lee also told us it’s key to know the history of your loved one’s facility. When you do, you can learn a lot. We scoured through hundreds of inspections from Bay Area facilities in the past year and found several cited for issues that could lead to infections spreading through the facility.

One is St. Pete was cited because it did not ensure appropriate infection control measures. Another in Sarasota was cited because it "failed to maintain shared resident equipment in a sanitary manner." It was noted this had the potential for the spread of infection.

For Pam, she hopes her mom’s facility is doing what is right and that she is safe until the day she can see her again in person.

She told us, "It is very scary thought if it breaks out in that facility because there's no, you know, there's hardly any stopping it once it's in a closed space like that.”

You can look up reports on a nursing home or assisted living facility through Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) by clicking here.

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