Floridians with no history of depression are suffering amid coronavirus

Anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness and suicidal thoughts are exacerbated in times of great stress, like the coronavirus pandemic, experts say. Even those who have never experienced mental health issues are vulnerable in such trying times. In a state where almost 14 percent of the population subsisted below the poverty line before coronavirus, an additional 2 million Floridians have filed for unemployment as a result of the pandemic. For many, the loss of even one week’s pay, let alone several months, can be financially and emotionally devastating. [Source: Florida Times-Union]

As Florida reopens, the deaths quietly keep piling up in nursing homes

Over the past week, elders living in long-term care facilities accounted for seven-in-10 Florida deaths resulting from the coronavirus, as the pandemic increasingly became a scourge of the old and frail. Though the cumulative overall number of deaths attributed to COVID-19, the illness caused by exposure to the coronavirus, doubled this month, coronavirus deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities tripled. [Source: Miami Herald]

See also:
» Half of Florida COVID-19 deaths linked to long-term care

Expect significant changes to Florida’s health care services

Coronavirus has changed how much of the world goes about their daily lives. As Florida reopens and residents return to their routines, health officials say many of the changes made during the pandemic will become the new normal. “There is a short-term impact we have fought through but there is a long-term impact, too,” said AdventHealth Central Florida Division President and CEO Daryl Tol. [Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal]

Florida has paid more than $16 million in contracts to private labs for COVID-19 testing

Florida has paid $16,279,852 in contracts to private laboratories for coronavirus testing as of Friday afternoon. The state’s COVID-19 information center tells WFSU “that number includes cost of collection kits and lab testing.” Quest Diagnostics, BioReference Laboratories, Inc. and Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) are some of the companies that have performed the most tests for Floridians. [Source: WUSF]

Florida health department releases antibody testing statistics

The Florida Department of Health released statistics late Friday on antibody testing for the coronavirus pandemic, although the correlation between the tests’ results and immunity to the virus is not yet fully certain. Friday’s data release for antibody testing is the first from the state. Unlike most coronavirus tests, which attempt to find whether a person is currently infected, antibody testing is designed to detect whether a person has ever been previously exposed to the novel coronavirus and thus, in theory, may have a degree of immunity to the disease. [Source: Florida Times-Union]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› SMH-Venice hospital construction on schedule [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Construction of the new Laurel Road campus for Sarasota Memorial Hospital continues on schedule. On April 17, contractors hosted a topping-out ceremony to mark the fact that the highest point of the 82-foot tall complex had been reached. More recently, the interior rooms of the facility are starting to take shape, noted Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice President Sharon Roush.

› Brevard hospital backed in medical malpractice dispute [WUSF]
A state appeals court Friday backed a Brevard County hospital and other defendants in a battle about whether state medical-malpractice laws should govern a lawsuit stemming from the death of a woman in 2012. A panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal overturned a decision by a circuit judge who denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the case.

› Florida hired doc to give virus results, despite probation [AP]
State officials contracted with a Florida doctor to give coronavirus test results to more than 100,00 residents, even though he’d been on probation by the state medical board for a decade. Emergency management officials said Friday that pediatrician Dr. Eric Pantaleon had been fired amid complaints that thousands of coronavirus test results were delayed.

› Court to move quickly on prison hepatitis case [Health News Florida]
A federal appeals court has agreed to move quickly in deciding a case about whether Florida should be required to provide expensive treatment to prison inmates who have been diagnosed with early stages of hepatitis C. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week approved a request by the state for “expedited” consideration of the case, which is scheduled for oral arguments on June 10 in Miami.