JACKSONVILLE — A strike team from the Florida Department of Health has been on site at the Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation Center.

During a press briefing Friday afternoon in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the department strike team was a a nursing home in Suwannee County where there has been an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

DeSantis said 51 people affiliated with the long-term care facility have tested positive, including 30 staff members.

Kerry Waldron, the health administrator for Suwannee County, said the team was a nurse strike team and was at the facility for three days last weekend. Waldron said the team arrived Friday and worked Saturday through Monday night after being requested by local officials.

According to Waldron, the strike team performed assessments on all residents at the facility as well as working with facility administration and providing educational support for the staff.

Despite the outbreak, Waldron said the strike team found everything running properly at the facility.

“They had no concerns,” he said.

While the health department’s investigation is ongoing, DeSantis said officials have been able to track the outbreak back to a single employee that was interacting with residents.

“This is a situation where If a staff member is sick, they can not be allowed to go in to that facility,” DeSantis said. “It seems like most of the interaction was with other staff, but you still have 20 residents that have tested positive. And there are more awaiting results.”

Waldron said in addition to the strike team, local health department officials have been on site as well as all the other local long-term care facilities.

“We’ve been in constant contact and communication,” he said. “We’re talking to all of our nursing facilities every day or every other day because our priority is long-term care facilities, so we’re keeping a close watch on that.”

The facility has not returned calls for comment. It did release a statement to WTXL-TV on Sunday in which it said it not only followed government-mandated protocols, but often exceeded them.

“While we believe that our facility has been ahead of our peers in preparation, this disease does not follow any particular game plan,” the facility said in the statement.

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JACKSONVILLE — The Florida Department of Health has a strike team on site at Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation Center.

During a press briefing in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis has the department’s strike team was at a nursing home in Suwannee County where there has been an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

DeSantis said 51 people affiliated with the long-term care facility have tested positive, including 30 staff members.

“This is a situation where If a staff member is sick, they can not be allowed to go in to that facility,” DeSantis said. “It seems like most of the interaction was with other staff, but you still have 20 residents that have tested positive. And there are more awaiting results.”

While the health department’s investigation is ongoing, DeSantis said officials have been able to track the outbreak back to a single employee that was interacting with residents.

The facility has not returned calls for comment. It did release a statement to WTXL-TV on Sunday in which it said it not only followed government-mandated protocols, but often exceeded them.

“While we believe that our facility has been ahead of our peers in preparation, this disease does not follow any particular game plan,” the facility said in the statement.