Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa Bay are starting their phased opening today with many new safety changes due to the coronavirus.
Guests are expected to see many new safety changes that were implemented in collaboration with park officials and health officials these last few months. The main concern is keeping all guests safe, according to reports.
So, what has changed?
A rollover crash in Tamarac, Florida has left two teen girls dead, according to reports from Florida traffic homicide detectives.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a report stating the accident happened at Tamarac intersection Thursday morning.
Reports indicate that a 14-year-old boy was driving the car with three other teen passengers. As the car entered the intersection, a pickup truck smashed into the passenger side of the vehicle, resulting in the car flipping over. Two teen girls, 13 and 16, were killed. The 14-year-old driver and a 16-year-old passenger both suffered injuries that required hospitalization.
The 68-year-old truck driver suffered no harm, according to reports.
No further information has been made available at this time, but it has been reported that no charges have been filed yet.
Rollover accidents have the very real potential to be fatal, as this case highlights. This is due to the fact that rollover crashes tend to be pretty violent collisions. Any car has the ability to rollover, but certain vehicle types are more prone to rolling over. Narrow, tall vehicles like SUVs, trucks, and vans have higher centers of gravity compared to smaller passenger vehicles, which makes them more likely to rollover in the event of an accident.
Speed also plays a pivotal role in rollover crashes, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), reported that nearly 40% of all rollover crashes involve cars travelling at excessive speeds. Another interesting fact, ¾ of fatal rollover crashes took place on roadways with a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour or higher.
The NHTSA also reports alcohol is a factor in half of all rollover collisions. It is important to highlight that driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol is never a good idea as this can negatively impact your good sense of judgment, muscular coordination, and vision, which only increases your odds of losing control of your car.
Driver behavior also plays a big role in preventing rollover crashes. Data from the NHTSA shows that more than 90% of vehicles involved in rollover collisions were engaged in routine driving behaviors, such as making a turn or travelling straight, when they crashed and flipped their vehicle. Data further shows that 85% of rollover deaths happen in single-vehicle collisions. These numbers suggest that distracted driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, inattentive drivers, and speeding all contribute to an increased likelihood of a vehicle rollover crash.
If you are involved in a rollover crash, there are things you should do to protect yourself and any passengers. First and foremost, our South Florida Auto Accident Attorneys Whittel & Melton urge you to seek medical attention right away. Even if you feel fine, you need medical care to make sure that you do not have any physical injuries that may not be immediately apparent. You never want to delay medical treatment, as you may have a very serious injury that you have yet to discover and delaying care can only make the injury worse. You will also want to notify law enforcement right away to get to the scene. They will need to report their findings and keep the area safe. If possible, it is a good idea to take pictures and get the contact information for any witnesses.
When it comes to rollover accidents, our South Florida Motor Vehicle Accident Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are here to help victims recover for their injuries. We are equally as dedicated to helping family members who have been killed in auto accidents recover for their losses through a wrongful death lawsuit. Multiple parties can be responsible for a rollover accident, so it is very important for us to identify the at-fault parties early on in the investigation so that we can file the right claims.
Rollover accidents can be complicated matters, but we are well equipped to handle these types of cases, as well as all auto accident claims. Victims of rollover accidents may be entitled to financial compensation for their suffering and we can help you evaluate your accident and determine what steps you can take to recover damages.
Monday started the Atlantic Hurricane Season, and now with the coronavirus pandemic still lingering, preparing for this season might be a bit different than previous years.
By the time the Category 3 Hurricane Dorian hit Florida’s East Coast in September of last year, it brought damage to the Daytona Beach Pier and caused powerful storm surges with wind damage throughout Florida’s East Coast.
And with hurricane season raping up again, the threat of another strong hurricane lingers.
Whittel & Melton, award winning Florida motorcycle injury lawyer Jason Melton and the National Academy of Motorcycle Injury Lawyers (NAMIL) is bringing back their online giveaway for 2020, and you could be the lucky winner of a brand new 2020 FXDR 114 Harley Davidson Motorcycle valued at over $21,000.00.
The Harley FXDR™ 114 is a bike that boasts some pretty bold features, some say it will blow away your senses. If you’re looking for a bike with agility, speed, and a massive amount of torque, this is the bike for you. And yes, it looks as good as it rides.
Looking to upgrade your bike? Looking to become a new motorcycle rider? We welcome you to enter the giveaway HERE. The deadline for entry is Saturday, October 31, 2020 at 11:59:59 PM ET. We have limited this contest to only one entry per person.
Whittel & Melton Are Founding Members of NAMIL
The National Academy of Motorcycle Injury Lawyers (NAMIL) was created by a personal injury attorney passionate about protecting the rights of motorcyclists everywhere. Our Florida Motorcycle Injury and Death Attorneys at Whittel & Melton helped found NAMIL and we proud to be able to help bikers throughout the state of Florida. We have considerable experience handling motorcycle injury and death claims and have been recognized as being able to handle complex motorcycle injury claims with compassion, professionalism, and excellence. As NAMIL members, we are always looking to expand our practice and are constantly studying and furthering the development of motorcycle law to better help serve our community of motorcyclists.
We Are Here to Help with Motorcycle Crashes in Florida
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 4,985 motorcyclists killed in 2018, the latest year for motorcycle crash statistics. Our Florida Motorcycle Injury and Death Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are dedicated to protecting and upholding your rights as a motorcyclist. We are proud to serve the entire state of Florida and provide you with the expert legal services you need if you have been injured or lost someone close to you in a motorcycle crash.
If you already own a motorcycle, then you know what it feels to experience the love for the open road. Getting on your motorcycle and cruising the streets and highways is a passion for many, and our team of injury lawyers understand that. Motorcycles have just as much a right to be on the road as any other car or vehicle. But the truth is, motorcycling can definitely be a dangerous activity. The latest data from the NHTSA also shows that motorcyclists are about 28 times more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash in comparison to passenger car occupants. Motorcycling, just like any activity, can be a hazard, but you can be safe on your motorcycle by having good balance, coordination, and always using your best judgment.
Florida has the perfect weather for motorcyclists to ride pretty much year round. We want all motorcyclists to be safe out on the roads, so we recommend making sure you are road ready before you ever take your bike out.
First things first, you should be properly licensed before operating a motorcycle. Driving a car and driving a motorcycle require different skill sets. To obtain a motorcycle license in Florida, you must have a valid driver’s license and complete a basic rider course. You can learn more about all the requirements by visiting the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FHSMV) website.
Once you are properly licensed, we recommend getting some good practice in before entering the highway full throttle. You want to get familiar with your bike and make sure you are comfortable with operating it before you enter into traffic. Weather conditions can change in the blink of an eye, so it is a good idea to learn how to handle various hazards like wet or slick roads, debris, and potholes before you venture out.
Once you are ready to ride, you want to check your bike for any possible issues before taking it out. Tire pressure, headlights, fluid levels, hand and foot brakes, and signal indicators should be checked before taking any trips, long or short. Another good thing to check for is a potential gas or oil leak under your bike.
As COVID-19 continues to keep most of the world on lockdown with ‘Safer at Home’ orders extended, there are many people still stranded on cruise ships. It has been reported that some cruise lines are currently working with the CDC to resolve the current “No Sail Order” and problem releasing their crew members.
While there are literally thousands of crew members left stranded at sea with no known date of when they can set foot on land, the sad reality is that they can continue to contract the novel coronavirus while being trapped and quarantined aboard a cruise ship.
Perhaps the most troubling piece of information is that recent reports have indicated that the cruise line industry knew about the coronavirus problem on their ships, but continued to sail anyways. This neglect on their part very well could have helped fuel this crisis, causing countless individuals to become infected. With that said, if you contracted coronavirus or lost a loved one due to COVID-19 onboard a cruise ship, you may be able to join a class-action lawsuit with other crew and passengers infected with COVID-19.
In early 2020 the coronavirus began spreading across the world leaving millions of people in one of the most dangerous and isolated places during a pandemic: a cruise ship.
It is unknown how many passengers and crew got sick or died from COVID-19. No global health body or regulatory agency is known to be tracking those statistics as of now, but we know the numbers will be alarming.
The cruise industry downplayed the dangers to consumers and kept sending out ships despite outbreaks on board and warnings from public health officials. This industry has stayed pretty silent about the death toll.
However, the Miami Herald began tracking outbreaks on board. As of publication, reporters found that at least 2,592 people have tested positive for COVID-19 during or directly after a cruise and at least 65 people have died, according to a database built by the Herald. That is far more than the industry or public health officials have acknowledged. It’s also likely not the complete picture.
The Herald found COVID-19 cases linked to at least 54 ocean-going cruise ships — roughly one-fifth of the global ocean cruise fleet. That number could grow as more cases are reported.
Reporters gathered the data using records from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foreign health departments, news reports, cruise companies and interviews with passengers and crew.
The cruise industry notes that it is possible that some of these people got COVID-19 from a source other than the ship they were on. It is also likely that other passengers and crew contracted the virus without developing symptoms or getting tested.
It is clear that passengers and crew paid the price for the industry’s decision to keep travel going. In early February the Diamond Princess ship was sequestered in Japan after a COVID-19 outbreak that left hundreds infected. This was a clear warning about how dangerous the new coronavirus is on cruise ships.
On March 8, the CDC alerted Americans to stay away from cruising, citing increased risk of COVID-19. Regardless of the warnings, some cruise ships left port on passenger voyages after the travel advisory. At least eight of those ships logged cases of COVID-19, resulting in at least 309 cases of the disease, or 12% of the total known cruise-related cases, the Herald analysis shows. At least three of those people died.
Some ships carried the disease from one cruise to the next. After the disease broke out on the first voyage, the number of cases generally exploded on the subsequent voyages.
While some passengers went straight to the hospital, many sick people returned to their homes, sometimes on commercial flights. Meanwhile, thousands of crew members found themselves marooned at sea in quarantine. As of publication, at least 922 crew members have been infected and at least 11 have died from COVID-19.
Ships with COVID-19 cases come from all four of the world’s largest cruise lines: Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings — all based in Miami — and MSC Cruises, along with a number of smaller lines.
A male passenger from Miami reluctantly boarded Carnival’s Costa Luminosa cruise in Fort Lauderdale on March 5. He was nervous about COVID-19, but the company wasn’t offering refunds. The cruise was scheduled to go to Puerto Rico and Antigua before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Three days into the cruise, a woman with COVID-19 symptoms was taken off the ship and hospitalized in Puerto Rico. Antigua turned the ship away, and instead of returning to port in Florida, Carnival decided to sail the Luminosa to Europe. The company waited seven days to isolate passengers and give crew members masks and gloves even as more and more people got sick. At least four passengers and one crew member died. Dozens more fell ill, the Herald’s data shows.
The man and his wife both tested positive for COVID-19 after disembarking. They both recovered.
Since the pandemic began, the industry has tried to downplay the severity of the crisis.
Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company, has maintained that “very few” ships have been affected by COVID-19. (At the time of publication, 17 percent of the company’s ships have been linked to coronavirus.)
“Cruise ships are not the cause of the virus, nor are they the reason for the spread in society,” Donald said last week. “It’s not a dramatic impact compared to how the community spread occurred around the world.”
In an April 15 interview with CNBC, Donald said that passengers in many cases “are at far less risk in a cruise environment than other environments.”
The CDC has warned repeatedly of the increased risk of COVID-19 infection on cruise ships, saying social distancing and thorough disinfecting are difficult to implement on board.
As the rest of the world watched the coronavirus consume China, still unaware of the severity of the sickness, the cruise industry was right there to witness the catastrophic reality.
In mid-February, the largest coronavirus outbreak outside of China engulfed Carnival’s Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in a Japanese port. Hundreds fell sick. At least eight people died.
In response, companies restricted boarding to exclude people who had recently traveled to China, Hong Kong and Macau. But cruise ships were business as normal. Here’s how it went down, according to the Herald’s report:
The week of Feb. 25
Caribbean countries began turning away cruise ships, a clear sign of what was to come.
By the time the industry closed down weeks later, several ships would be stranded at sea with dying people on board and nowhere to dock.
March 7
Even as the pandemic worsened, the Trump administration stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the cruise companies.
Meeting with industry executives in Fort Lauderdale, one of the busiest U.S. ports, Vice President Mike Pence assured the nation it was “safe for healthy Americans to travel.”
Adam Goldstein, CLIA’s chairman, said the companies were prepared to pay for the transfer of sick passengers and crew to hospitals.
That day, one person who worked at Port Everglades as a passenger greeter for a Carnival Corp. subcontractor tested positive, followed by two more in the following days.
Reluctant passengers who didn’t want to lose their money boarded cruise ships, trusting that companies would not be operating if it weren’t safe. Cruise companies weren’t offering refunds, but they were upping cleaning routines on ships and denying boarding to people who had recently traveled to disease hotspots.
Crew members had no choice but to return to sea.
March 8
The CDC and the State Department alerted all Americans to avoid cruise travel, citing an increased risk of COVID-19 infection on ships. At least 1,791 passengers and crew on cruises that left before the advisory were infected, the Herald’s analysis shows.
March 9
The morning after the travel alert, cruisers still came to PortMiami to fill out health questionnaires so they could board.
Despite the clear CDC warning, the White House’s coronavirus task force said that the cruise lines were working on stronger safety protocols to continue cruises. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said elderly people with underlying health conditions should avoid cruising.
Meanwhile, CDC and California health officials prepared to transport more than 2,000 cruise ship passengers from Carnival’s Grand Princess to hospitals for care or military bases for quarantine after a COVID-19 outbreak on that ship. Herald data show at least 125 passengers and 19 crew from the ship have tested positive, and at least five people have died.
March 11
CLIA sprang into action on Capitol Hill to try to fend off a government-ordered industry shut-down. Lobbyists met with the Florida House delegation to discuss proposals to curb infections on their ships, including barring people over the age of 70 from boarding. More passengers boarded ships. Others hopped off to visit ports around the world.
Around 550,000 passengers were on cruises on March 11, according to CLIA, the same day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
March 12
Princess Cruises, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp., was the first to stop cruising. The line canceled all new cruises for the next 60 days after government-led quarantines on two of its ships.
March 13
The rest of the North American cruise fleet followed on March 13, announcing a 30-day pause.
South Florida governments proclaimed their support. Miami-Dade County waived its docking fees, allowing cruise companies to bring their ships to PortMiami at a discount, and offered to turn a warehouse into a triage center to isolate infected passengers.
The industry is an important economic player in South Florida; along with bringing millions of tourists, cruise lines paid nearly $77 million and $60 million in passenger fees to PortMiami and Port Everglades, respectively, in fiscal year 2018.
President Donald Trump tweeted, “It is a great and important industry – it will be kept that way!”
By March 17, the CDC elevated its travel warning to require cruise passengers to self-isolate for 14 days after disembarking.
Two days later, Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to turn away a ship full of sick people seeking refuge in a Florida port.
Some ships that were able to get back to port quickly after March 13 offloaded thousands of cruise passengers without any screening from companies or governments.
Passengers on the Ruby Princess cruise ship that docked in Sydney, Australia, on March 19 walked right off the ship and scattered across the world—despite many showing symptoms of COVID-19. At least 647 people, including 202 crew members, have tested positive, and at least 22 people have died. The ship is the largest source of COVID-19 cases in Australia, and is at the center of a criminal investigation in that country.
Passengers on the MSC Meraviglia disembarked in Miami on March 15 without any screening after a passenger on the previous voyage tested positive. At least two passengers who got off the ship that day contracted COVID-19.
Other ships, like Carnival’s Zaandam and Coral Princess, were forced to sail for more than a week to reach Florida’s shores in early April after every country in the Western hemisphere with a cruise port turned them away.
At least five passengers from the Zaandam tested positive for COVID-19. All of them died, as did one of the crew members who tested positive.
On March 20, the lead physician on the Coral Princess wrote passengers a letter.
“Rest assured that, relatively speaking, Coral Princess is probably one of the safest places in the world to be at this time,” the doctor wrote.
Since then, at least eight passengers and five crew tested positive for COVID-19, and at least two passengers have died from the disease. The ship docked in Miami.
During the last passenger cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, the company alerted the CDC of a possible COVID-19 infection on board. On March 26, the company sent an email to passengers from the voyage to warn them that someone on their cruise had tested positive.
The company waited until March 28 — nearly two weeks after first learning of a possible infection — to warn the crew still on board of their exposure and isolate them. At least 14 crew members have tested positive.
Similarly, Norwegian Cruise Line encouraged crew on its Norwegian Encore ship, docked at PortMiami, to take advantage of activities normally off limits to workers like passenger buffets and pools and gyms, even as more people fell ill. Meanwhile on land, city governments and public health officials warned the public to stay in their homes.
One crew member who was able to leave the Encore tested positive for COVID-19 the next day.
Some crew members will never make it home.
As of publication, at least eleven crew members have died from COVID-19 — four of them in South Florida hospitals.
Citing continued COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations among crew who remain on cruise ships, on April 9 the CDC extended the halt on cruise operations in U.S. waters until late July, or until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and required the industry to implement a plan to immediately mitigate outbreaks on ships.
The coronavirus outbreak has been a nightmare for everyone, but especially those passengers that were stuck on board a ship with the deadly virus. And sadly, we know now, this is a tragic situation that very well could have been avoided. Cruise lines knew about the dangers of COVID-19, and the very real risks of passenger exposure, but they made the choice to continue cruising. The passengers on board continued with life as normal while the rest of the world was being told to stay safe at home.
As more investigations confirm just how much cruise line operators knew before setting sail, it will be likely that many personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits will arise. Severe injuries or wrongful death aboard a cruise ship are nothing any passenger prepares to experience, but the reality is that these events can happen. When a cruise line’s careless or negligent actions are to blame, our Florida Cruise Ship Injury and Maritime Law Attorneys at Whittel & Melton can help you file your own lawsuit or join a current lawsuit to secure financial compensation.
Late Saturday there was a call for body bags and by Monday, the police received an anonymous tip about a body being stored in a shed outside one of the state’s largest nursing homes.
Once police arrived, the corpse had been removed from the shed, but they discovered 17 bodies piled inside the nursing home in a small morgue, intended to hold no more than four people.
The 17 were among 68 recent deaths linked to the long-term care facility, Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, including two nurses, officials said. Of those who died, 26 people had tested positive for the virus.
For all the others, the cause of death is unknown.
Of the patients who remain at the homes, housed in two buildings, 76 have tested positive for the virus; 41 staff members, including an administrator, are sick with COVID-19, according to county health records shared Wednesday with a federal official.
This nursing home is certainly not alone. Coronavirus has killed thousands of residents at facilities struggling with staff shortages, increasingly sick patients and a lack of personal protective gear.
Andover Subacute has beds for 700 patients and records show it is the state’s largest licensed facility.
Even before the pandemic, the nursing home had struggled. Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation II recently got a one-star rating of “much below average” from Medicare for staffing levels, inspections and patient care.
Reports indicate that the nursing home is overwhelmed by the death toll and has requested help from the governor’s office to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The state Department of Health sent two shipments containing 3,200 surgical masks, 1,400 N95 masks and 10,000 gloves to the nursing homes, according to a spokeswoman.
The nursing home has told local health officials that they are housing sick patients on separate wings or floors, Danielson said. And local residents have been gathering supplies to donate to the nursing home.
Most of the state’s nursing homes have reported at least one case of the coronavirus, which as of Wednesday had infected 6,815 patients of long-term care facilities in New Jersey. At least 45 of the 351 coronavirus-related deaths announced on Wednesday were residents of long-term care facilities.
Thirteen of the bodies discovered on Monday at the Andover facility were moved to a refrigerated truck outside a hospital in nearby Newton. A funeral home had made arrangements to pick up the other four.
The number of deaths in nursing homes from coronavirus is rising by the day. Due to the fact that older adults and those with underlying conditions are the most vulnerable to the virus, nursing homes and elderly assisted living facilities must follow infection control protocols as well as guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When a nursing home or assisted living facility breaches this duty during a pandemic, a nursing home neglect lawsuit could result.
A pandemic is no reason to let safety and security measures slide, especially among the elderly and those with compromised immune systems who are among the most at-risk populations for contracting the deadly coronavirus. As such, nursing homes across the United States have failed to take swift actions to protect their employees and residents during the COVID-19 outbreak and can be held liable for their negligence.
Due to nursing homes failing to contain certain areas, many sick and elderly residents quickly contracted coronavirus and spread the disease to others in their nursing homes. In the majority of these cases, the spread of the disease could have been prevented with common-sense guidelines, like social distancing, frequent hand washing, and the usage of face masks.
Sadly, many nursing home residents came in contact with COVID-19. Our Nursing Home Negligence and Abuse Attorneys at Whittel & Melton know this would not have happened if nursing homes had followed pandemic guidelines.
Distracted driving is a huge issue across the United States. Texting while driving is the riskiest of the distracted driving behaviors, but other distractions include applying makeup, adjusting the radio, drinking coffee, and talking on your phone. When you allow distractions to take over your train of thought when you are behind the wheel, you rob yourself of those few seconds that you may need to avoid a close call or a deadly accident.
This was the case of Liz Marks. Like most of us, she always had her phone close by, and thought texting while driving was no big deal because everyone does it. Sadly, she learned just how big of a deal texting while driving can be. While she survived, she now has life altering injuries that will affect her for the rest of her life.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), distracted driving accounted for 2,841 lives in 2018. Here is the breakdown of those killed: 1,730 drivers, 605 passengers, 400 pedestrians and 77 bicyclists. The NHTSA leads the national effort to save lives by preventing distracted driving. That is why this April, as part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the NHTSA is teaming up with State and local law enforcement to save lives and make our roads safer by combating distracted driving through their U Drive. U Text. U Pay. campaign. They are working together, along with road safety organizations and advocates, to remind Americans that distracted driving can result in costly consequences. From April 11 to 15, law enforcement will also be making a special effort to identify and ticket anyone who insists on risking their safety and that of others by driving distracted.
Our Florida Injury Attorneys at Whittel & Melton fully support the NHTSA’s mission to put a stop to distracted driving. We want everyone to take National Distracted Driving Awareness Month as a time to regroup and take responsibility for making safe choices every time we get behind the wheel. The NHTSA recommends the following safety tips to get to and from your destinations safe and sound:
Florida Wireless Communications While Driving Law
Section 316.305, Florida Statutes allows law enforcement to stop motor vehicles and issue citations to motorists that are texting and driving. A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers or symbols into a wireless communications device to text, email and instant message.
Section 316.306, Florida Statutes, is a prohibition on using wireless communications devices in a handheld manner in school and work zones. A person may not operate a motor vehicle while using a wireless communications device in a handheld manner in a designated school crossing, school zone or active work zone area. Active work zone, as it pertains to Section 316.306, Florida Statutes, means that construction personnel are present or are operating equipment on the road or immediately adjacent to the work zone area.
Educate Others of the Dangers of Texting and Driving
Please remind your friends and family that if they are driving, then their focus needs to be on the road. They should not be taking phone calls, texting, eating food, or doing anything else that distracts them from driving.
Our Florida Injury Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are supporting the NHTSA this April, and throughout the year, to work together to spread this life saving message: U Drive. U Text. U Pay.
A military veteran who contracted coronavirus in mid-March at a Florida VA nursing home in Pembroke Pines has died, state officials confirmed Saturday.
The deceased veteran, who was not identified, was one of two men living at the nursing home for veterans in Pembroke Pines who were hospitalized last month after they tested presumptive positive for the coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. They were transferred to a local hospital.
The two residents at the Alexander Nininger State Veterans Nursing Home were tested after they showed signs of a low-grade fever, according to officials. They have been the only veterans at the state’s seven veteran nursing homes and domiciliary facilities who have contracted the disease since the coronavirus outbreak in Florida last month.
With more coronavirus test results rolling in, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among veterans at the Miami VA hospital has more than doubled to 36 as of Saturday, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs records. One of those veterans, a man in his 90s, died last week, according to the Miami VA officials.
About half of those patients are being treated at the downtown Miami VA hospital and the other half are quarantined at home, records show.
The Miami VA hospital now surpasses the Orlando VA facility, with 34 positive COVID-19 patients, for the most coronavirus infections in Florida.
Statewide, 104 veterans have tested positive for the viral disease at federal VA hospitals as of Saturday, up more than 30 percent this past week.
That figure, however, represents less than 1 percent of the total confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide, according to Florida Department of Health records. As of Tuesday, there have been 13,629 positive test results and 254 deaths in Florida due to the highly contagious respiratory disease.
The 372-bed Miami VA hospital, which serves 58,000 veterans in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties, has also had four staff members test positive for the viral infection, and the employees are all in isolation, mitigating further risk of transmission to other patients and staff, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Miami VA hospital was among dozens of veterans’ facilities nationwide recently cited by a federal inspector general for failing to maintain adequate equipment and supplies, including critical N95 masks for healthcare workers. The reality is, hospitals in and outside the VA system are reporting shortages of the N95 masks as well as traditional surgical masks.
On Monday, Miami VA officials started requiring employees to use and reuse surgical masks for one week, unless they are treating patients with COVID-19 or their masks become soiled. In those instances, they can ask supervisors for a replacement.
“These masks are expected to be used for a week at a time, longer if possible,” Miami VA Healthcare System Director Kalautie JangDhari told staff in an email Sunday that was updated with the same message Wednesday. “Masks may be removed while eating or drinking, but must be immediately put back on.”
Despite the new policy, Miami VA healthcare workers say surgical masks are not as thick or effective as the N95 masks that were found to be in short supply at the hospital by federal inspectors during a visit last month.
Sadly, nursing homes are habitually understaffed. With the novel coronavirus pandemic, staff shortages are even worse. However, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are known to keep resident to staff ratios high, and staff numbers low, in an effort to boost profits. These facilities are notorious for placing profits over people, which can ultimately lead to serious injuries and death.
The staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities are not always properly trained on infection control measures, which means they are often unaware of the policies and procedures to prevent infection. It has been documented that Florida nursing homes have struggled with infection control. There have been repeated instances of workers failing to wash their hands as they move between patients.
The CDC has released new regulations for how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in nursing home and assisted living facilities, which include:
A nursing home in Baker County that saw a sudden spike of 10 coronavirus cases said the illness was bought into the facility from someone who was recently moved to the facility.
The Macclenny Nursing and Rehab Center suddenly found that 10 patients in the facility had been infected with COVID-19 as of Thursday. Only one other case of the infection had been reported in the county prior to the outbreak in the nursing home, the Florida Department Health data showed on the coronavirus dashboard.
Susan Kaar, vice president of compliance and quality management for the nursing home’s owning company Southern Healthcare Management LLC, said the facility’s first confirmed case was a resident who was admitted to the center after being at a local hospital. While monitoring residents, the center noticed others displaying symptoms associated with COVID-19 and tested them. The virus spread rather quickly. All victims of coronavirus were transferred to a local hospital.
As a proactive and preventative measure, all patients and staff were tested for the virus. This is when the additional cases were found.
It is unclear how many of the 10 victims were elderly patients and how many were staff.
The facility says it is collaborating with the local Department of Health. .
Baker County Commission Chair James Bennett Friday said county first responders have handled the situation and the jurisdiction is taking the outbreak in stride.
As of Monday, the DOH coronavirus dashboard said Baker County had 12 victims of the illness with no deaths. The dashboard indicates the age range of the 12 victims is 24 to 97.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Florida is at 12,350, as of Monday. The number of residents that have tested positive for coronavirus are 11,961. The number of hospital admissions are 1,555 and the number of deaths are 221.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, nursing homes are experiencing a shortage of caregivers. Regulators are now allowing “personal care attendants” to perform more hands-on functions normally handled by certified nursing assistants, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration. In addition, the state of Florida is temporarily waiving a live-scan fingerprinting requirement for new employees who work with residents because fingerprinting vendors are shut down, according to an emergency order. Instead of fingerprinting, nursing homes are required to conduct background checks through several sources, according to the order. The waiver is in effect for 30 days and is due to expire April 27 unless extended.
Nursing Homes Still Have a Duty of Care to Residents
Florida nursing home and assisted living facilities owe their residents a duty of reasonable care to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Elderly nursing home residents and residents with underlying health issues are at an increased risk of dying from coronavirus. Because of this, nursing homes and assisted living facilities must take extra precautions to prevent coronavirus from spreading throughout their facilities.
When nursing homes and assisted living facilities do not take the necessary steps to protect their residents from coronavirus, this could translate to negligence. Any residents who suffer harm or die from being infected with coronavirus have a legal right to bring a lawsuit against a negligent nursing home or assisted living facility.
Nursing Homes Must Take Extra Precautions
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), advises healthcare employees to follow very strict procedures for preventing the spread of viruses, including the following:
Filing a Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit After Contracting Coronavirus
Nursing homes that fail to take the necessary steps to prevent coronavirus from spreading can be held legally responsible for any suffering and death caused by the virus. Let’s say an infected nursing home staff member contracted the virus and exposed a resident to it after failing to wear protective gear around the resident. The resident may very well have a valid claim for a negligence lawsuit.
Contact Our Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Attorneys at Whittel & Melton
