FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Five firefighters who transported a patient to the hospital after responding to the Atria Willow Wood Senior Living and Memory Care facility are now in isolation at home and are being tested for the coronavirus. A Fort Lauderdale police officer who went into the room of one of the deceased to identify the body and do paperwork has now been isolated.
Fort Lauderdale’s Dean Trantalis confirmed that “three elderly residents at assistant living facilities in our city have passed away.” Trantalis said test results confirmed that one was infected with the coronavirus."
Police have locked down the 180-unit facility on at 2855 W. Commercial Boulevard after officials confirmed that 77-year-old Richard Curran, a resident with underlying health issues, died. He was complaining of general weakness Friday, but had no fever, sources told Local 10, but three days later, he was dead.
Several other residents at the facility have been removed from the facility. The senior vice president of care at the facility, Mike Gentry, said there have been “four other residents at the hospital also being tested for COVID-19. We have received confirmation that one of these tests is negative and we await the results of the remaining tests."
As for the other two residents who died, test results are pending.
At a news conference, Florida’s Governor Ron Desantis stressed that those that are elderly, whether they have traveled or not and exhibit symptoms, are eligible for a test.
The woman whose husband tested positive and died from the coronavirus presumably had contact with him, but at last check, she has not been tested.