Escambia County hospitals, governments spinning up COVID measures as cases keep rising

Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal
·4 min read

Just a few short months ago, with COVID-19 vaccines widely available and the number of new cases declining weekly, it seemed we were close to putting the COVID-19 pandemic behind us.

However, a recent surge in COVID cases — largely attributed to the omicron variant of the illness — has put many institutions back on full alert.

Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart resumed drive-thru COVID testing Tuesday and found long lines of car wrapped around the building. Ultimately, Ascension set a new record for the number of tests completed in a day.

A long line of cars snakes around the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital campus in Pensacola on Tuesday as people seek COVID-19 tests. The hospital has once again restarted its curbside COVID-19 testing program.
A long line of cars snakes around the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital campus in Pensacola on Tuesday as people seek COVID-19 tests. The hospital has once again restarted its curbside COVID-19 testing program.

Meanwhile, Community Health Northwest Florida announced Tuesday that its staff would be offering drive-thru testing at the Brownsville Community Center beginning Thursday.

All in all, this week has seen many local institutions relaunching COVID prevention and information programs as cases continue to climb.

Escambia County and the city of Pensacola brought back their online COVID-19 dashboards that provide the latest number of patients in the county's three major hospitals. The dashboard shows the number of new COVID-19 cases in Escambia County jumped by 302% over the last week, with the number of hospitalizations in the county also on the rise.

Hospitalizations were at 114 people as of Tuesday. The number has been under 50 since the fall and remained low enough that both the county and city discontinued the use of their online dashboards.

Cases increase: Escambia County's COVID cases up 302%; Florida cases surge 142%

Previously: COVID surge, likely due to omicron variant, prompts Pensacola drive-thru testing return

"Unfortunately, we have reached over 100 hospitalizations in a quick timeframe," Escambia County Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore said. "We are going to continue to monitor the local hospitalizations daily, as well as provide weekly updates to the death count provided by the CDC. Our hope is that we see this number drop below 50 again very soon."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not reported any deaths in Escambia County from the omicron variant.

Want to stay up to date on the latest news? Click here to subscribe to pnj.com.

According to Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart, their team set a new record Tuesday for most tests completed in a day. They performed 649 swab tests, which beat the old record of 625 set July 6, 2020.

"Those dates were the only two times in 60 weeks of testing at the Bayou Blvd. drive-thru site where they performed more than 600 tests in less than one day," Mike Burke, manager of marketing and communications at Ascension Sacred Heart said in an email.

In a news release, Baptist Health Care reported seeing increases in hospitalizations for patients with COVID-19 and referred residents to the COVID-19 dashboards for specific data.

"BHC continues to closely monitor the situation and will make any facility and operations accommodations necessary to provide care to all patients, including those with COVID-19," a statement from Baptist said. "Adjustments in BHC facilities and staffing needs made earlier in the pandemic provide the ability to modify for fluctuations in cases. Those adjustments will be deployed as needed to meet patient volume needs."

A long line of cars snakes around the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital campus in Pensacola on Tuesday as people seek COVID-19 tests. The hospital has once again restarted its curbside COVID-19 testing program.
A long line of cars snakes around the Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital campus in Pensacola on Tuesday as people seek COVID-19 tests. The hospital has once again restarted its curbside COVID-19 testing program.

Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart's drive-thru will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday at 5192 Bayou Blvd. No pre-registration or appointment is needed. The testing site will offer the traditional PCR swab test that will be sent to the hospital laboratory at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola. Lab results will be available in 24 hours.

Additionally, Community Health Northwest Florida, in partnership with Escambia County, will offer drive-thru community COVID-19 testing from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Brownsville Community Center, 3200 W. De Soto St. in Pensacola.

The testing will be open to the public, all ages welcome, with no pre-screening and no appointment required. Participants should wear a mask and bring a photo ID and insurance card, if insured. The site will offer PCR tests only, and rapid tests will not be available.

Despite the uptick in COVID response measures, Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson said Monday that the city remains in a "green" status as far as COVID-19 precautions.

"COVID is never going away," Robinson said. "The best way to protect yourself is by getting vaccinated by getting boosted. We've continued to promote that."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Omicron surge revives COVID-19 dashboard, tests in Escambia, Pensacola