Florida Trend Exclusive
COVID-19-related mental health challenges facing Florida's children

Jennifer Katzenstein, director of psychology and neuropsychology at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, spoke to FLORIDA TREND about the mental health challenges children are facing as a result of COVID-19 — and how the pandemic has likely changed how mental health services will be delivered to many children and families in the future. [Source: Florida Trend]

Hospital leader says Florida’s hospitals haven’t received fair share of CARES Act money

The CEO of an association of Florida’s nonprofit hospitals is calling for the federal government to treat the state fairly when allocating the rest of its $175 billion in CARES Act funding designated to the nation’s hospitals. “Florida has not been treated as well as other states, on average,” said Justin Senior, the CEO of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida (SNHAF). “[The state] has not received as much per capita, has not received as much per hospital bed, has not received as much per COVID-19 case, as other states, and certainly nowhere near as much as the Northeast.” [Source: WJCT]

State working on plan to get ‘essential caregivers’ back into long-term care facilities

The ongoing discussion of how to safely reopen Florida’s long-term care facilities to limited visitation continues. On Friday, a task force appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis held a virtual meeting to start developing the next steps of how to allow family members to visit their loved ones. The meeting went on for over an hour and a half, and the big focus was on essential caregivers. It was agreed by state health and elder care officials that there’s an urgent need to get essential caregivers back inside long-term care facilities. [Source: WJXT]

See also:
» Visit loved ones in nursing homes despite coronavirus? Florida task force seeks the way

Florida Trend Exclusive
Nicklaus Children's Hospital is helping treat children with rare illness caused by the coronavirus

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami has carved out space in its intensive care unit to treat Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare illness that can appear several weeks after exposure to the coronavirus. The four-room MIS-C pod includes barriers to prevent cross-contamination within the hospital’s 40-bed ICU, a decontamination corridor for people to pass through and a specialized bed designed to help staff turn intubated adolescent patients. [Source: Florida Trend]

Winn-Dixie, Harveys roll out new drug delivery service

Winn-Dixie and Harveys are offering a new contactless drug delivery service. Jacksonville-based parent company, Southeastern Grocers, said its pharmacy customers can choose from free curbside pickup, or two-day shipping for an extra $5, or same-day delivery for an additional $8. The service is only available for customers who live within five miles of a store. [Source: Health News Florida]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida changes format of pediatric COVID-19 report [WTSP]
The state has changed the format of the pediatric COVID-19 report. That report is typically updated on Friday and shows coronavirus case information for children 17 and younger. Now, the Florida Department of Health is reporting new cases in each county rather than total cases.

› 7 new West Nile cases announced. Miami-Dade passes 30 residents who’ve contracted it [Miami Herald]
Miami-Dade County passed 30 West Nile virus cases as the Department of Health announced seven more. On Thursday, the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County announced seven more residents have contracted the mosquito-borne illness from local transmission. This brings the county’s total of West Nile virus cases this year to 33.

› Company hired to do contact tracing is ‘relatively new’ in the field [Click Orlando]
Florida taxpayers are paying tens of millions of dollars to two companies for the service, even though one of the companies has very little experience in the field. The company’s website said they have had success, but after being asked about the company’s experience, a company spokesperson, Lisa Miles, admitted their “contact tracing work is relatively new."

› Jacksonville, Orange Park hospitals plan to hire 200 over 4 months [Florida Times-Union]
As the hard-hit health care industry is slowly starting to rebuild its workforce after being rattled by decreases in revenue in the wake of COVID-19, Memorial Hospital Jacksonville and Orange Park Medical Center have announced plans to hire 200 nurses over the next four months.