Jacob Ogles
The Department of Health announced three new patients in Florida have tested positive for coronavirus.
One of the cases is associated with Port Everglades, a cruise port connected already connected to multiple other infections.
New cases include a 57-year-old Lee County man and two Broward County residents in their 60s.
In total, that makes 29 people tested presumptively positive for COVID-19 in Florida, including two who died. There are also five who were repatriated to Florida after testing positive while out of the country.
The Lee County man with the virus remains under isolation. It’s unclear if his infection was travel-related. Health officials are conducting an epidemiological investigation still.
It’s also unclear in one of the Broward cases, a 65-year-old man tested positive, caught the virus while traveling. He also remains in isolation.
But the other patient, a 61-year-old man in Broward, is one of multiple cases connected to Port Everglades. Listed as a travel-related case, the patient also remains in isolation.
An advisory at Port Everglades has now identified four individuals, three connected to cruise passengers or employees with Metro Cruise Services.
It’s enough state health officials have recommended any individuals with symptoms who recently traveled through the large port to self-isolate or immediately contact their community Health Department.
Metro Cruise Services employees who had any association with one of the four cases have been asked by state officials to stay at home.
“The Department is working to connect with all employees at Metro Cruise Services who may have come into contact with the three individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 to provide the employees with the appropriate guidance and monitoring,” reads a Department of Health advisory notice.
State officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control on an investigation involving coronavirus at the port.
The four Port Everglades associated cases are among seven Broward County patients tested positive for coronavirus.
The Lee County patient is the third case in that county, which is also home to one of two coronavirus deaths in the state.
