Several test results have come back from a commercial lab after some 150 residents and employees at Crystal Health & Rehab Center were tested on May 2. Per Bob Eadie, county health officer, he received word today that eight results came back positive on residents while one came back positive among staff.
“That’s going to show up on the dashboard when the report is released tomorrow. There’s still some more tests to come in,” Eadie said. “The information is going to come from Tallahassee.”
Several calls were made to Crystal Health this evening but weren’t returned.
It will be a week come this Saturday that tests were administered.
On May 2, a state strike team entered the nursing facility on Plantation Key in Islamorada to conduct testing after a speech therapist tested positive for COVID-19 late last week. The therapist is a local resident and is recovering. All testing at the facility has been complete, but all results haven’t come back just yet.
A few test results have come back on two residents at the facility who passed away last week. A 101-year-old female and a 87-year-old female who passed both tested negative, health officials said.
Two staff members who were not present for testing on May 2 were administered the test two days later on May 4. Those results came back and were found to be negative, Bob Eadie, health officer for Monroe County, told the Weekly on May 6.
The majority of remaining tests conducted by the health department and the state Incident Response Team on May 2 are still pending in a private lab. Health officials say they anticipate — and are hopeful — that those results will come back on Saturday.
“I’m expecting them to come back any day because we got these back … then the next ones ought to be coming in,” Eadie said.
The Florida Health Department says the monitoring of long-term care facilities is a top priority.
“The department and incident response team continue to take appropriate short and long term actions to assure the safety and health of the residents and staff,” the health department said in a release.”
Further information will become available as it is developed.
