Three new cases of COVID-19 in Southwest Florida were reported over the weekend, including one death.
The coronavirus epidemic arrived in Southwest Florida with two new cases of COVID-19 reported Friday night in Lee County and one in Charlotte county on Saturday. Lee Health President and CEO Larry Antonucci said that the Lee County cases came through the emergency department at Gulf Coast Medical Center.
"Both patients are elderly and have underlying health conditions. On Thursday morning, one of those patients died," Antonucci said. The death wasn't announced until Friday night after the Florida Department of Healh confirmed that the patient's COVID-19 test was positive.
The second patient whose test also came back positive is in isolation in the ICU. Both had traveled internationally and been home for about a week before coming to the hospital with severe respiratory illness.
The Florida Department of Health reports that the person who died was in their 70s. Their gender and where they had traveled has not been released. On Saturday, Governor Ron DeSantis directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to activate to Level II, meaning that emergency support personnel from various agencies will be able to provide support to the Florida Department of Health in response to COVID-19.
