Patients of Westside nursing home account for 30% of COVID-19 deaths in Duval

18 of Duval’s 59 COVID-19 deaths were patients at Signature Healthcare

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Signature Healthcare, a nursing home on Jacksonville’s Westside, confirms 18 of its residents died from COVID-19 -- more than any other long-term care facility in Northeast Florida.

In all of Duval County, there have been a total of 59 reported deaths due to COVID-19. Signature Healthcare has had 22 residents and 21 staff members recover from the virus.

Brian Lee, executive director of Families For Better Care, said something has to change.

“It’s a very dangerous environment,” he said. “To know that this many people have died at this facility, at this one particular nursing home, screams problems, and it’s terrifying.”

A statement from Signature Healthcare reads in part: “The majority of those who passed had been patients at partnering hospitals for a considerable amount of time and passed away at those facilities.”

To clarify, each of those 18 people were first residing at Signature Health.

Lee believes the only way to get the deaths under control is to implement rapid testing within the facilities.

“That will help them identify who is sick to get those folks isolated, quarantined from the rest of the population to prevent the spread," Lee said.

Signature Healthcare of Jacksonville says it has “employed a facility-wide testing approach... which comes highly recommended by our infectious disease physicians, as well as the CDC and other state government partners.” It goes on to say "Most test results do not come in all at once, but instead arrive periodically and in batches.”

The facility added that after all results come in, the initial numbers can grow quickly.

According to the CDC, testing practices should aim for rapid testing turnarounds of less than 48 hours in order to facilitate effective interventions for when people do test positive.