Lee County Commission to discuss COVID-19 response after six virus-related deaths

Conrad Buchanan, a 39-year-old Lee County man who died from Coronavirus, with wife Nicole and daughter Skye. Photo courtesy GoFundMe.

Lee County commissioners will discuss the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic at a special meeting March 30. But its unclear if they will take up a stay at home order, as Lee Health officials desire.

That’s after six individuals in Lee County died from COVID-19, with three of those deaths reported in as many days.

The deaths in the Fort Myers area include the first death in Florida, a 77-year-old Lee County woman who died March 5. She had recently traveled to the Dominican Republican, according to the Department of Health, and was only diagnosed with the coronavirus after her death.

The fallen also include the youngest victim in Florida as of March 29. Conrad Buchanan, a popular area DJ who performed as Griff Gotti, died on March 26, 13 days after waking with a fever,

A GoFundMe page for Buchanan’s family says he was hospitalized the last four days of hos life after his wife Nicole had been nursing him at home. Buchanan’s wife and daughter were in quarantine thanks to the exposure and now allowed to visit him at the hospital before he died.

Outside of Buchanan, all the deaths in Lee County have been individuals over the age of 65.

The most recent was a 77-year-old man diagnosed on March 27.

Another 77-year-old man diagnosed on March 13 also passed away after being diagnosed with COVID-19, and a 67-year-old man also died after a diagnosis on March 19.

The oldest fatality in the region was 94 years old, diagnosed March 26.

Besides the first death, health officials have not determined any of the deaths to be travel-related. Buchanan death is still under investigation.

County commissioners attribute the high number of deaths to the older demographic in the region. Individuals over 65 years of age make up 28.6% of the population, according to the most recent Census estimate.

But Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass said a stay at home order doesn’t make sense to home. That’s not least because the order drafted by county attorneys in line with similar measures around the state has an extraordinary number of exemptions for “essential businesses.” The order allows golf courses and construction businesses to remain open, for example.

“What we are seeing locally is people who would be affected are voluntarily staying shut down anyway,” he said. “And it’s a good thing that’s happening without government telling them what to do.”

Commission Chair Brian Hamman noted a similar fact on Twitter, where he’s shared pictures of empty streets in Lee County with a sense of relief.

“We asked you to stay home and the vast majority listened. Thank you!” he tweeted. “Please keep it up!”

Hamman also noted that the capacity at local hospitals is not yet stresses. It’s not uncommon this time of year for beds to be at or near 100% capacity, but he said as of Sunday morning, facilities were at 65% capacity.

It’s the overall strain on health care infrastructure driving much of the discussion of stay at home orders around Florida, more than mortality rates.

Pendergrass also noted that the one fatality outside an at-risk demographic in the region, Buchanan, has recently been working at parties with spring break crowds as the outbreak was in its early stages in Florida. That’s unfortunate because of his exposure to people from outside the area and vice versa. But it’s not typical of the social distancing most are exercising at the moment.

Lee County commissioners met last week to discuss a stay at home order but ultimately chose not to take actions. Rather, Hamman said then commissioners would meet again Monday for an emergency update and keep the order ready if a need arises.

Collier County commissioners on Friday elected to table a similar order indefinitely. That was partly because there wasn’t a similar order in place in Lee County, and no statewide order giving standardized direction to residents in all communities.

Lee County has seen a total 124 individuals test positive for COVID-19, including six non-residents, as well as one Lee County resident currently outside the state. The average age of patients in the area is 54, and 34 remain hospitalized.

That reportedly includes a 34-year-old nurse who contracted the illness while treating other victims.

The six deaths represent the second highest number for any county in Florida, behind only Broward County’s 11 deaths. But Broward has seen 838 total cases and thus has a much lower fatality rate of 1.31% to Lee County’s 4.84%.