CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – There have been dozens of COVID-19 cases found in two Clay County long-term care facilities.

State health officials on Monday released specific case numbers for facilities across the state as many families and media outlets have been looking for answers.

Two facilities in Clay County stood out with higher numbers, including Heartland Health Care Center in Orange Park, which had 46 residents and staff test positive, and Governor’s Creek Health and Rehabilitation in Green Cove Springs, which had 41 residents and staff test positive.

Positive COVID-19 case at Heartland Health Care Center
Positive COVID-19 case at Heartland Health Care Center

Florida Department of Health data shows that 10 assisted living facilities in Clay County have reported at least one positive COVID-19 case.

News4Jax first started receiving tips from people who have loved ones at or work in Governor’s Creek in Green Cove Springs. As of Friday, these are the numbers: 26 residents had tested positive, five cases had transferred out and 15 staff had tested positive.

At Health Care Center, as of Friday, 32 residents had tested positive, 11 patients had been transferred out and 14 staff members had positive tests.

The facility with the next largest number of cases is Diamond Assisted Living & Memory Care in Green Cove Springs which has reported positive tests for nine residents and four staff.

News4Jax reached out to Governor’s Creek on Monday and management said it is “taking every measure to safeguard our centers against the threat of COVID-19. Our dedicated caregivers are working night and day, often leaving their own families to care for our family of residents, and we thank them for their service and heroic efforts.”

Speaking at a news conference Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said there’s an issue with infected workers getting inside nursing homes and they’re working to cut down on that.

“Unfortunately, there have been cases where sick workers have been able to go has caused outbreaks and you’ve ended up having residents infected,” DeSantis said. “There’s also examples though of rep workers going in staff going in who did not have symptoms, but eventually spread it to the staff and you’d have big outbreaks with the staff eventually affect the resident.”

Outside of the three facilities, no other long-term care facility in Clay County reported more than one positive resident test, according to the latest report.

As of 10 a.m. on Monday, Clay County had a total of 271 positive cases of COVID-19. Of the 14 reported deaths in Clay County, nine are connected to long-term care facilities.