MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. – Dozens of residents of a Miami Springs nursing home were loaded into ambulances Sunday.
Some patients of Fair Havens Center, where 128 cases of coronavirus have been reported at the facility, were transported from the center to Hialeah Hospital. Eight Fair Havens’ residents have died from COVID-19, according to the department of health.
Department of Health statistics show that Fair Havens Center has transferred 32 positive residents; 58 residents who have tested positive remain at the facility and 38 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Lázaro Guas, whose mother was one of the people transferred Sunday, told Local 10 that his mother tested positive for the virus, but she has yet to show any symptoms. He told Local 10 he would rather his mother stay at the facility and be treated there.
"She doesn't have a fever, she doesn't have any symptoms; just that she has tested positive. Why are they being transferred without symptoms?"
Mary Mayhew, secretary for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, appeared on Local 10's news program This Week In South Florida on Sunday. She said transfers out of long-term care facility are happening to contain outbreaks of COVID-19.
"You have a number of individuals who are in semi-private rooms, so it is incredibly difficult to prevent the spread. (This) is why we have been partnering with hospitals in the counties to support timely transfers out of these facilities so two cases do not become 20 or five become 50. That is critical and that has been a huge focus of ours," Mayhew said.
Guas believes his mother's health is in greater danger by taking her to a hospital.
“Why are they being transferred to a hospital where you have more patients that already have the symptoms?"
Fair Havens has been on lockdown since February meaning no visitors or anyone other than people who must go into the facility are allowed.
(See the number of verified coronavirus cases and number of deaths at Florida’s long term care facilities in documents below.)