Hendry County is a COVID-19 hot spot, health pros confident community will pull through

Hendry County is being considered a hot spot for the coronavirus.

Florida Department of Health say only 10% of the population has been tested, but there are nearly 660 cases.

We looked at why the county is seeing this trend with COVID-19 Tuesday.

“Residents in these communities are very proud and self-sufficient,” said R. D. Williams, the CEO of Hendry Regional Medical Center.

Williams has spent most of his career in rural communities and says the people are used to getting things done on their own. Hendry county is no different.

“It’s difficult at times for them to reach out for assistance when they need help,” Wiliams said. “And sometimes they almost wait too long to ask for help.”

But, with the number of COVID-19 cases increasing, health experts say the community needs to act quickly.

“It’s definitely a concern,” said Dr. Joseph Pepe, the health officer for Hendry and Glades counties. “We’ve been watching the numbers rise in Hendry county for quite some time.”

Dr. Pepe says part of the problem comes from the area’s focus on farming.

“We’ve had a couple of significant outbreaks in worker housing, so farm worker housing,” Pepe said. “We’ve had one facility with over [100] cases just in one in one area.”

Another issue: Hendry Regional Medical Center doesn’t have the technology at the facility to perform its own diagnostic tests yet. And sending specimens out to labs means there’s a delay in getting results out. Also, the county’s surrounded by other hot spots in Immokalee and DeSoto County.

“Since we border on the counties that have the highest incidents of [COVID-19] infection in the state, it was just a matter of time,” Williams said. “The contact tracing that has been performed indicates that the [COVID-19] cases that arrived or started in Hendry County were actually folks that worked outside of the county and were exposed in their job.”

“With all of those crews going to different locations as well as coming back and forth in and out of Hendry County for shopping and living and working and playing, it’s definitely been a challenge to contain that,” Pepe.

Pepe is confident the people of Hendry County will help each other pull through together.

“They want to know how they can help, what can they do to protect themselves and help protect the community,” Pepe said.

To help stop the transmission in Hendry County, the department of health is focusing on getting more people tested and giving out masks.

“We also come together to support each other as we’re facing shared adversity,” Williams said.