Bay County COVID-19 Overall Positive Rate Drops From 12% to 10%

Panama City, Florida — The Florida Department of Health in Bay County (DOH-Bay) received confirmation of 130 additional cases of COVID-19. According to the Agency for Health Care Administration as of 10 a.m. today there are 80 persons in Bay County hospitals with COVID-19.

Bay County’s total case count is at 1,737 including 1,693 residents and 44 non-residents. Eight Bay County residents have died from COVID-19. Bay County’s overall COVID-19 positive testing rate is 10 percent. Of the 17,093 tests processed, 15,333 tests are negative.

Today’s report reflects a data dump of 3,390 negative results from PanCare of Florida, Inc. reducing Bay County’s overall positive rate from 12 percent to 10 percent. These negative results date from May 12 through June 30 and July 14 through July 16. The Florida Department of Health continues to work with this partner to ensure the remainder of the back log of negatives are input. All new data is now reported electronically.

The age range for Bay County residents testing positive for COVID-19 for July 12 is 0-4 years (2), 5-14 years (3), 15-24 years (27), 25-34 (16), 35-44 (19), 45-54 (25), 55-64 (23), 65-74 (11), 75-84 (2), and 85+ (2).

Cities of Bay County cases based on patient’s ZIP Code: Panama City (1,154), Panama City Beach (245), Lynn Haven (176), Youngstown (31, Southport (30), Fountain (17), Missing (16), Callaway (9), Tyndall Air Force Base (7), Inlet Beach (2), Mexico Beach (2), Bayou George (1), Parker (1), Seacrest (1), and Watersound (1).

Data is preliminary and subject to change based on public health investigations.

COVID-19 Question of the Day

With many businesses now requiring face coverings, how can I make one and what is the appropriate way to wear it?

Cloth face coverings are an additional step to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The Public Health Advisory highly recommends that people wear them in public when they cannot social distance.

Wear your face covering correctly:

Wash your hands before putting on your face covering
Put it over your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin
Try to fit in snugly against the sides of your face
Make sure you can breathe easily
Don’t put the face covering around your neck or up on your forehead
Don’t touch the face covering, and, if you do, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer to disinfect

For more information on cloth face coverings from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html.

DOH also offers instructions on how to make a no sew face cover here: http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/action/make_a_no_sew_face_cover.pdf

Signage for businesses from DOH can be found here: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/resources/

Prevention

Protect the vulnerable by avoiding the Three Cs: Closed Spaces, Crowded Places and Close-Contact Settings and by wearing a mask in public:

Closed Spaces. Avoid closed spaces with poor ventilation that could allow contagious droplets to linger in the air.
Crowded Places. Avoid crowded places with many people nearby; the greater the number of individuals in an area, the greater the chances of COVID-19 spreading from person-to-person.
Close-Contact Settings. Avoid close-range conversations and stay at least six-feet from others.

Testing

DOH-Bay is testing anyone with symptoms of COVID-19. For screening, please call DOH-Bay at (850) 872-4455 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and follow the prompts. Testing is by appointment only. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, new loss of taste or smell, vomiting or diarrhea, and/or sore throat. The CDC has a symptom checker available at CDC.gov/coronavirus. For additional testing options and information, visit Bay.FloridaHealth.gov.

DOH-Bay Test Results

Phone: Call (850) 872-4455 and follow the prompts to COVID test results prompts and request the status with the representative. You will be provided with the option to obtain your results in person (if negative) or electronically (negative or positive).

Office: If you come to our office, do not get out of your car. Please call (850) 872-4455 and follow the COVID test results prompts. Please let us know you are in the parking lot and we will deliver your results to you in your vehicle.

Email: You can make your request by emailing baymedicalrecords@flhealth.gov. After you complete the authorization form, you will need to respond with a picture of your photo ID and we will send your result to you via an encrypted email. The email must be viewed on a desktop or laptop PC as the encryption is not mobile friendly.

Additional Data

The state provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county, which is available here.

In order to make the daily COVID-19 report easier to download and more accessible, the daily report will now separate case line data in a separate PDF. Both reports will continue to be updated daily. The case line data report is available here.

Florida long-term care facility data:

The list of long-term care facilities with active COVID-19 cases is available here.
The list of long-term care facilities with deaths is available here, which is updated weekly.

The antibody COVID-19 test results report will be provided once a week and contains county, race and lab information on antibody COVID-19 tests conducted in Florida. The report for antibody tests conducted by private health care providers is available here and the report for antibody tests conducted at state-supported COVID-19 testing sites is available here.

The Agency for Health Care Administration added an additional tab to the Hospital Bed Capacity Dashboard to reflect hospitalizations with the primary diagnosis of COVID-19.

More information on a case-by-case basis can also be found here.

For more Information on COVID-19

For text alert updates from the Florida Department of Health in Bay County, text “bayhealth” to 888-777. For additional information specific to Bay County, visit http://bay.floridahealth.gov/ or BayHealthCOVID19.com. Contact the Citizens Information Center seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at (850) 248-6090, or email ask@baycountyfl.gov.

To find the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, please visit the Department of Health’s dedicated COVID-19 website at FloridaHealthCOVID19.gov. For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, call (866) 779-6121. The Call Center is available 24 hours per day or email COVID-19@flhealth.gov.

The free StrongerThanC19 app is available to both iOS and Android users and can be downloaded from the Apple or Google app stores. The StrongerThanC19 app and website are designed to gather information to help the Department of Health track and slow the spread of COVID-19 in Florida; they are not intended to be used as a symptom checker designed to dispense medical advice.