BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, FLA. (WSVN) - Bay Harbor Islands has declared a state of emergency after a town employee showed possible symptoms of the coronavirus.
The employee is under self-quarantine after being possibly exposed to the coronavirus, Wednesday, but no positive test for the coronavirus has been confirmed.
According to a letter from a member of the town council, the employee, who resides in Broward County, received medical attention and was told to go home and self-isolate while awaiting further instructions from the Florida Department of Health.
“It was a matter of time,” parent Stephanie Ayash said. “We all knew that it was coming. I’m scared like everybody else, but I mean, what can we do? Just do the best that we can. I think that any preventative measure that the city does is OK. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
The employee, who works at the community center, contacted the town manager and provided information the hospital gave her regarding her condition. The employee is now awaiting her test results.
Meanwhile, the town’s community center has been closed for a deep cleaning, as are other public buildings. The crew cleaning the community center said they will be deep cleaning for several hours.
“I wasn’t that nervous, but then, when I found out that it was actually real, I was freaking out a little bit,” sixth-grader Elisa Chirino said.
Town Hall printed out flyers and posted them all over town reminding residents of the importance of personal hygiene as they are under a state of emergency.
The Bay Harbor Islands K-8 Center cancelled after-school activities and after care programs.
Parents said they got a phone call from the school system at around 1:30 p.m. to pick up their children.
“Well, I came immediately to pick up my kids,” parent Ricardo Mualin said. “It’s scary, very scary.”
“They only told I was supposed to pick up the kid, and that’s it,” parent Paul Reyes said. “They never said why. They only said that an after-school program was cancelled for today.”
“It’s scary, you know, but what we can do is wash our hands and do what we can,” parent Gabriel Sampaio said.
“We might need to quarantine, I think, to stop this from spreading. [It] might be a solution,” Mualin said.
It is unknown if school will be affected for the rest of the week.
Meanwhile, a person who worked at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami is exhibiting flu-like symptoms and is receiving medical care while self-isolating. So far, that person has not been tested for the coronavirus.
Officials are asking those who have been in courtrooms 4-7 or 2-2 within the past two days that begin to develop symptoms to self-isolate and call their doctor or the health department.
7News cameras also captured a cleaning van outside of City of Miami fire station, and someone removing a mask to grab food outside of the door. Hours earlier, City of Miami Fire Rescue said that a member of the department felt sick after returning from a trip in the U.S.
UPDATE: This individual has since been tested for COVID-19 novel coronavirus and the results are negative. @CityofMiamiFire services throughout the City of Miami continue as normal. https://t.co/qR3p9p908i
— Miami Fire Rescue (@CityofMiamiFire) March 12, 2020
Miami-Dade County Schools has yet to comment on the situation.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.