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SEE WHAT’S OPEN! PalmCoastObserver.com FREE • APRIL 2020
VOLUME 4, NO. 10
Florida hopes to provide rapidresult tests The state is also working to acquire an FDAapproved antibodies test. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Florida’s government hopes to soon supply each hospital in the state with COVID-19 tests that produce results in minutes, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference streamed on The Florida Channel’s website April 10. The state is also working to acquire new antibodies tests that detect whether someone has had COVID-19 in the past, he said, and is distributing personal protective equipment to hospitals and first responders. “This has probably been the biggest logistical operation in the history of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, with the state distributing more than 5.2 million masks, among other items. From a warehouse in Orlando, the state distributed 2 million masks, 300,000 face shields, 50,000 containers of hand sanitizer, 500,000 shoe covers, more than 100,000 gowns and 350,000 gloves, Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said. Florida still has hospital bed capacity, DeSantis said, with 44% of hospital beds and almost 40% of ICU beds still available in the state. The state has also screened 17,000 people entering from COVID-19 hot spots over the past week and a half, he said. Statewide, 225,755 people have filed initial unemployment claims as of this week, and the state has 2,000 employees processing applications or standing by to help if needed, DeSantis said.
HOPE IN THE ASHES The community raised $21,570 for the Mears family, whose home in Flagler Beach was lost in an accidental fire the night before Easter. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Annette Massey helped set up a GoFundMe fundraiser for her longtime friends Marshall and Jenna Mears and their 8-yearold son, Buddy, around noon on Easter Sunday, thinking it was the least she could do after the Mears’ Flagler Beach home burned down the day before. Flames had engulfed the woodframe house at 2043 S. Daytona Ave. the evening before Easter, forcing firefighters from the Flagler Beach Fire Department, Palm
By the afternoon of April 14, when the fundraiser closed, people had donated $21,570. “That just seemed like something I could do I thought would be small, and it wound up being huge,” Massey said. “We just kept thinking, ‘What if this happened to us? What would we want?’ Just to know that people care.” And they clearly did: 279 people donated through the GoFundMe link, and the GoFundMe post was shared approximately 1,500 SEE DONATIONS PAGE 4
“That just seemed like something I could do I thought would be small, and it wound up being huge.” ANNETTE MASSEY
COVID-19 and the Fire Department NEWS EDITOR
Q: How is the Fire Department responding to COVID-19 — how has it changed things? A: Change is very hard, especially when you don’t see it coming. Part of what we’re doing now is virtual meetings on the Zoom app, which is really not quite the same.
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Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue to fight defensively to keep the fire from spreading to neighboring homes. Little remained of the house or its contents, including the Mears’ cars and essential documents. With Robyn Lafferty, Jenna Mears’ sister, Massey set an initial GoFundMe donation goal at $10,000, hoping to help keep the Mears afloat until insurance money kicked in — which, Massey knew from past experience with hurricane recovery, can take months.
Photo courtesy of the Mears family
Q + A WITH FIRE CHIEF JERRY FORTE JONATHAN SIMMONS
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BCH FL PERMIT #447
Marshall, Buddy and Jenna Mears.
Q: Aren’t you reducing the size of the crew that goes out on these possible COVID calls? A: Right. In the past we would go with an ambulance, so there’d be two on an ambulance, three on an engine. ... So you’d have five people showing up on a call. Now, if we’re on an engine, we only send one person in to
assess the inside of the house with the patient. We ask them if they could come outside, which typically is a far cry from what we would normally do — you don’t ask the patient to get up and move. ... If we do go inside, with that one firefighter, they assess it and they see if we need to send more people in, or bring the patient out. We want to make sure that there’s at least one person that’s not affected by the contact, and they’re able to drive the engine back to the station. Q: What steps do you take to prevent uniforms from being contaminated, for the person that goes in and has to handle the patient closely? A: We ordered booties and
smocks and things, but the reality on using those out in the field is they become another contaminant. Q: So, if you have somebody go through this whole process of decontamination, that must take somebody out of circulation for a while, right? A: Before we had the COVID virus, we would respond in less than 7 minutes ... and get back in service/available within 25 to 30 minutes from the original call-out. Now, after COVID, we have to go there and we have to take take the time to talk to the patient, additional PPE ... So that unit is out out of service probably an additional 20 to 30 minutes. More at www.palmcoastobserver.com.