FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health is reporting a significant number of COVID-19 cases at a Fernandina Beach nursing home.
On Friday, FDOH reported 47 residents and seven staff members have tested positive for the virus at the Fernandina Beach Rehab and Nursing Center.
Of those residents, 10 have been transferred out of the facility.
“To hear that they have come down with so many cases is heart-wrenching,” said Pam Bell, whose mother lives in the facility.
The facility’s administrator, Stephen Jordan, declined to comment on the situation.
“It’s a very draining time,” Bell said. “I think about my mom there all the time.”
Bell says she’s seen the facility has taken precautions since the beginning of the pandemic.
“I can see them through the window, I can see them wearing masks,” Bell said. “It’s scary to me that even with them being cautious, it has had that many positives showing up.”
A source who would like to stay anonymous has a father within the facility.
When visiting her father through the window, the source says she’s seen staff members not washing their hands or changing gloves when entering and exiting resident rooms.
“I know the care is there but I’ve watched the nurses have to change the way they do things,” Bell said. “It’s noticeable. There are times I call down there and they don’t answer the phone.”
The anonymous source states she didn’t believe her father’s health was getting enough attention and he developed a UTI.
Bell also said her mother developed a UTI and she needed to be taken to the Emergency Room.
“A UTI hit her like a ton of bricks,” Bell said. “I never saw anyone in the shape I saw my mom in. She was upset, yelling out. She didn’t know who she was, where she was, what was going on.”
Since then, she says her mother hasn’t been the same.
“My mom’s UTI, I’m going to blame it on COVID,” Bell said.
Not because her mother contracted the virus, but it caused a situation that is keeping her from her normal, healthy life.