The first healthcare provider in The Villages to provide drive-through testing for COVID-19 continued its efforts to combat the virus Thursday and Friday by checking residents and employees of area assisted living facilities.
Providers from Premier Medical Associates spent the past two days conducting Coronavirus testing at Sumter Grand and Sumter Place in The Villages. The staff members and residents were checked for the potentially deadly virus, with results expected to be available on Monday.
Premier Medical kicked off its latest testing effort this past Tuesday at the skilled nursing facility at Buffalo Crossings. The agency also plans to test staff and residents at similar centers located throughout Florida’s Friendliest Hometown as part of a massive effort to identity those suffering from the potentially deadly virus in facilities where the most vulnerable residents live.
Premier Medical Associates was the first healthcare provider in The Villages to offer testing for the Coronavirus. That drive-through effort kicked off March 16 at the provider’s facility at 1580 Santa Barbara Blvd. near Freedom Pointe. Premier Medical also has fought tirelessly to acquire testing swabs and has successfully continued the effort among patients who are showing symptoms and go through telemedicine visits with their physicians.
So far, the Florida Department of Health has identified two local facilities – Buffalo Crossing Healthcare And Rehabilitation Center and Serenades in The Villages – where COVID-19 cases have been identified since March 2. At least one case also was identified at Osprey Point Nursing Center in Bushnell. The state report points out that the data in the report is provisional, subject to change and the listed facilities may no longer be associated with cases of the virus.
Another health department report on Friday reported that five staff members or residents of long-term care facilities in Sumter County have tested positive for COVID-19. It doesn’t specify which facilities those patients are connected with.
All told, 20 residents or staff members of long-term care facilities in the tri-county area have tested positive for the Coronavirus. Eleven of those are in Marion County, where cases have been identified at Pacifica Senior Living Ocala and Palm Garden Of Ocala. Four also tested positive in Lake County at Adventhealth Care Center Waterman, Lake Eustis Health And Rehabilitation Center and The Cove At Tavares Village. No deaths have been reported in long-term care facilities in the tri-county area.
