April 7, 2020

Just had the first 2 COVID19 deaths in my county.

And as of yesterday 8 confirmed cases on the island I live on.

Close to home. Stay safe everyone!!!

April 3, 2020

Orange County testing site hits capacity 7 minutes after opening Friday

This is insane. This site is getting the test kits from the federal government & they've been limited to 250 tests per day, yet Trump says there's no problem getting tests.


Officials changed the testing criteria earlier this week to include people under the age of 65 who are experiencing certain symptoms. They've quickly hit the daily capacity in the days that followed the change.

Anyone can receive a test if they have: a 99.6-degree fever or higher and respiratory symptoms, or a pre-existing condition. First responders and health care workers are also included.

The testing site can only conduct 250 tests a day because they get their tests from the federal government and said they have limits.

"That federally mandated number is what we must follow. So, while we have 2,400 tests, we're only able to perform 250 a day. You may be thinking. ‘oh, well the Miami site and the Jacksonville site have more tests that they're able to do,’ and we understand that, however the reason they're able to do that is that they have either a hospital partner, or they have tests that came in from the state of Florida. While that's an option to happen here as well, it hasn't happened yet," Lauren Luna, spokesperson for the testing site said.

[link:https://twitter.com/WESH/status/1246103945057009664?s=19|

[link:https://www.wesh.com/article/orange-county-coronavirus-testing-capacity-7-minutes-after-opening/32032967|]

April 3, 2020

New test site open in Miami Gardens, 65+ only w/symptoms

#COVID19 @FLSERT Test Site @HardRockStadium is open for testing today; you must be 65+ and have symptoms below👇no appointment needed. Bring a valid photo ID with name and birthdate. @FLSERT @fema @HHSGov @FLGuard
https://t.co/DAQjBGHnen

Symptoms: On-site temperature above 99.6 and respiratory symptoms.

[link:https://twitter.com/FloridaPIOs/status/1246065114186481664?s=19|]

April 1, 2020

Orange County testing site "federally mandated to stop each day after completing 250 tests"

I don't know why. Until today people who were not at least 65 years old AND displaying symptoms (or first responders & medical professionals) were turned away from this drive-thru site & not tested per Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Today is the first day without the age limit (you still must have symptoms to be tested), but we're now told there's a federal limit of 250 tests a day (Why a federal limit on state testing? Trump trying to keep the numbers low?), so everyone beyond that is ... you guessed it ... turned away & not tested.

From Rachael Krause, ch 13 Orlando:

The @OCCC testing site is federally mandated to stop each day after completing 250 coronavirus tests. Today, after dropping the age requirement, they reached that test limit at 11:15 am - their fastest time yet @MyNews13 #N13COVID19
https://t.co/1PcZBnDSf0

[link:https://twitter.com/RKrause_News/status/1245395144188272640?s=19|]

Something smells fishy in Orlando & it's not the grouper.