Panama City, Fla.— Today, the Florida Department of Health in Bay County (DOH-Bay) issued a weekly update on COVID-19. The percent positivity for new cases in Bay County residents has decreased from 20.96 percent for the week of December 26 to 20.91 percent for the week of January 2. The COVID-19 daily reports continue to be updated daily and the Florida Department of Health COVID-19 Dashboard also continues to be updated daily. Please find all daily reports here. 
  
Vaccines

A total of 4,149 Bay County residents have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. As additional vaccine supplies become available and the State provides priority groups for vaccinating, DOH-Bay will follow and share those plans on our website at Bay.FloridaHealth.gov and through text alerts available by texting BayHealth to 888777. For the most current information on COVID-19 vaccination plans in Florida, please visit https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/covid-19-vaccines-in-florida/.

The State COVID-19 Vaccine Summary is available here.

Hospitalizations:

As posted on the Agency for Health Care Administration dashboard, there are 87 persons in Bay County hospitals with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19.

The total number of Bay County Residents who have been hospitalized at some point during their illness is 556 (4% of all cases). For the week of January 2, there were 41 emergency department visits with influenza-like illness and 164 emergency department visits with COVID-like illness.

Positive test results:

DOH-Bay received confirmation of 893 additional cases of COVID-19 in Bay County residents for the past 7 days and a total of 1,782 cases for the past 14 days. Cases per 100,000 people is at 6,994.

Bay County’s total case count is at 13,303 including 12,763 residents and 540 non-residents.

Cities of Bay County cases based on patient’s ZIP Code: Panama City (8,133), Panama City Beach (2,045), Lynn Haven (1,743), Youngstown (307), Southport (165), Fountain (139), Callaway (72), Tyndall Air Force Base (63), Mexico Beach (34), Parker (13), Missing (9), Ebro (5), Vernon (3), Seacrest (3), Inlet Beach (4), Bayou George (3), Alys Beach (4), Rosemary Beach (1), and Watersound (1).
 

COVID-19 Related Deaths:

There have been 227 COVID-19 related deaths (2% of all cases) of Bay County residents. Fourteen deaths were confirmed in the past week. DOH-Bay offers condolences to the families and will continue to work diligently with our community partners to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Florida long-term care facility data:

• To date, 56 Bay County residents that were staff or residents of a long-term care facility have died and there have been 552 (5% of all cases) cases in facility staff/residents.
• 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.

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

Testing

Bay County Testing by Walk On

Lynn Haven Sports Park, 2201 Recreation Drive

Panama City Sports Park, 50 Chip Seal Parkway

Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Panama City Sports Park location will be closed on January 14, 15, and 18.

Criteria: Testing is available to adults over 18 and children ages 5 and up who are accompanied by an adult.

Cost: Free

Test Type: Antigen (rapid in 20 minutes) and PCR

Appointment required. To make an appointment, visit https://www.baycountyfl.gov/587/COVID-19-INFORMATION. Please note that DOH-Bay does not operate this site and cannot make appointments for this testing location. Appointments must be made online. Each site can test up to 500 people per day.

Florida Department of Health in Bay County Testing

To reach maximum capacity for COVID-19 vaccination, DOH-Bay is temporarily suspending testing for COVID-19. If you need a COVID-19 test, please check with your healthcare provider first.

For additional testing options and information, visit Bay.FloridaHealth.gov

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 https://bay.floridahealth.gov/ or BayHealthCOVID19.com. Contact the Citizens Information Center Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (850) 248-6090, or email ask@baycountyfl.gov.

In order to make the daily COVID-19 report easier to download and more accessible, the daily report separates case line data in a separate PDF. The case line data report is available here. The state also provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county, which is available here. 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.

To access the COVID-19 vaccine summary report click here.

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

To find the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, please visit the Department of Health’s dedicated COVID-19 webpage. For information and advisories from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), please visit the CDC COVID-19 website, this website is also available in Spanish and Creole. For more information about current travel advisories issued by the U.S. Department of State, please visit the travel advisory website.

For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, please contact the Department’s dedicated COVID-19 Call Center by calling 1-866-779-6121. The Call Center is available 24 hours per day. Inquiries may also be emailed to COVID-19@flhealth.gov.

###

About the Florida Department of Health

The Department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information about the Florida Department of Health, please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.