Sarasota Memorial Hospital employees among Florida’s new COVID-19 cases

On Sunday, four additional members of Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s health care team and seven more patients at the hospital were diagnosed with COVID-19.

The facility now has a total of six employees who tested positive for COVID-19 and is caring for 24 patients. The hospital also announced Sunday that a second patient has died from the novel coronavirus.  

One employee is hospitalized, while the others are being monitored at home. According to the hospital, the new cases remain under investigation, but based on the tracing of the employees' contacts, they did not appear to have a known exposure to a positive patient at SMH. 

Patients and staff who had close contact with the employees in the days before they went into quarantine are being notified. 

As a precaution, several staff members have been asked to stay home and self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days, and we are testing those who have or develop symptoms. 

In total SMH has tested 498 people, with 37 positive results.

If you feel sick:

The Florida Department of Health has opened a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions around the clock. Questions may also be emailed to covid-19@flhealth.gov. Email responses will be sent during call center hours.

LINK: Florida's COVID-19 website

CORONAVIRUS IN FLORIDA: What you need to know

AROUND THE WORLD: CoronavirusNOW.com

Map of known COVID-19 cases:

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