Panama City, Fla.— The Florida Department of Health in Bay County (DOH-Bay) confirmed today that a 55-year-old man (case confirmed July 18), a 67-year-old woman (case confirmed July 19), a 64-year-old man (case confirmed July 21), a 63-year-old woman (case confirmed July 22), a 79-year-old man (confirmed July 23), a 69-year-old man (case confirmed July 24), a 68-year-old man (case confirmed July 25), a 57-year-old man (case confirmed July 29), and an 84-year-old man (case confirmed July 31) passed away.

DOH-Bay offers condolences to the families and will continue to work diligently with our community partners to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Please note that although these deaths are being reported today that does not mean these deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, rather, they were confirmed in the past 24 hours.

DOH-Bay received confirmation of 76 additional cases of COVID-19 with 335 negative test results and a 17.6 percent positive for August 13. There is one non-Florida resident case. According to the Agency for Health Care Administration as of 10 a.m. today there are 64 persons in Bay County hospitals with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19.

The age range for Bay County residents testing positive for COVID-19 for August 13 is 0-4 years (1), 5-14 years (2), 15-24 years (7), 25-34 (10), 35-44 (7), 45-54 (14), 55-64 (17), 65-74 (10), 75-84 (3), 85+ (2), and unknown (3).

Bay County’s total case count is at 4,720 including 4,646 residents and 74 non-residents. There have been 61 COVID-19 related death of Bay County residents. There have been 11 deaths associated with long-term care facilities. Bay County’s overall COVID-19 positive testing rate is 17 percent. Of the 27,874 tests processed, 23,168 tests are negative.

Cities of Bay County cases based on patient’s ZIP Code: Panama City (3,003), Lynn Haven (736), Panama City Beach (617), Youngstown (85), Southport (68), Fountain (50), Missing (33), Callaway (18), Mexico Beach (11), Tyndall Air Force Base (10), Parker (5), Vernon (3), Inlet Beach (2), Bayou George (2), Seacrest (1), Rosemary Beach (1), and Watersound (1).

Beginning, August 15, DOH-Bay will not provide COVID-19 news releases on the weekends. Monday’s release will include data from Saturday and Sunday. The https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/#latest-stats has links to State and County reports, line lists of cases, and the COVID-19 dashboard and will continue to be updated at approximately 10 a.m. daily. Please refer to those for updates for Bay County on Saturdays and Sundays.

Return to School Safely

Going back to school this fall will require schools and families to work together even more than before. Schools will be making changes to their policies and operations with several goals: supporting learning; providing important services, such as school meals, extended daycare, extracurricular activities, and social services; and limiting the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Teachers and staff can teach and encourage preventive behaviors at school. Likewise, it will be important for families to emphasize and model healthy behaviors at home and to talk to your children about changes to expect this school year. Even if your child will attend school in-person, it is important to prepare for the possibility of virtual learning if school closes or if your child becomes exposed to COVID-19 and needs to stay home.

CDC has created a checklist to help with back to school planning for school year (SY) 2020-2021. If your school uses a hybrid model, you may want to review both the in-person and virtual/at-home learning checklists. Click here for a copy of the checklist.

One Goal One Florida asks all Floridians to join this important initiative by following these simple, yet effective steps to mitigate and slow the spread of the virus:

1. Protect the vulnerable, including the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions 
2. Practice proper hygiene, including washing your hands 
3. Practice social distancing, avoiding closed spaces and crowded places 
4. Wear a mask, if you are in close contact with others 

Testing

Bay County Testing Sites are closed today due to weather. They will reopen Monday at 7 a.m.

Lynn Haven Sports Park
2201 Recreation Drive

Frank Brown Park
16200 Panama City Beach 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.
Criteria: 18 and older, photo identification required upon arrival for appointment
Cost: Free

Appointments recommended. To make an appointment for a test, visit https://makoexchangedev.com/baycounty/. While appointments are encouraged, walk-in clients are being accepted at both testing locations after 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and after 1 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

DOH-Bay

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.

Test Results

Bay County Testing Sites

To contact the testing lab to inquire about your results, please call (844) 625-6522 or email info@makomedical.com. You will receive a text message when your results are ready. You will access your test results through the same website where you registered for testing. Simply visit https://makoexchangedev.com/baycounty/, log-in, and there is a link to get results.

DOH-Bay

If you have been tested by DOH-Bay, please answer the call from the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 results line at (833) 917-2880. They will ask for a name and date of birth to provide you with a negative test result. This number is legitimate and is a Department of Health sponsored initiative. Caller ID should identify the call as FL DOH. This will provide support to DOH-Bay so that we can focus on contacting positives persons and case investigations. Please note callers will not ask for social security numbers or medical information. 

If you need physical copies of your COVID-19 test results, please follow the directions below:

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 https://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.

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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.