Florida officials wanted town to stay quiet on possible COVID-19 case. Town went ahead.

UPDATE: State officials confirmed Thursday night that the Bay Harbor Islands employee who self-isolated earlier this week has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Our employee remains in isolation and under medical care,” the town said in a statement.

Bay Harbor Islands said its community center and all town parks would remain closed until further notice.

Original story:

On Wednesday morning at 10:58, the head of human resources for the small town of Bay Harbor Islands sent an email to all staff and elected officials that began: “The Town is aware one of our employees is under medical attention as a presumptive positive case of the coronavirus.”

Also on Wednesday morning, the town’s mayor, Stephanie Bruder, signed a memo on official town letterhead declaring a state of emergency. The justification: “the fact that one of our employees is under medical attention as a presumptive positive case of the corona virus.”

But that was wrong. According to Florida health officials, there is no Bay Harbor Islands employee who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19. In fact, the employee in question has yet to receive testing results, positive or negative, for the virus.

According to Jared Moskowitz, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Florida officials asked Bay Harbor officials not to release any information about the case until more was known.

But the town went ahead with the memo to staff, Moskowitz said, based on information the employee had relayed to town officials after a visit to a local hospital.

“We just asked [town officials] to hold until it could be verified by health officials,” he said. “There has to be a balance between being fast and being right.”

As it turned out, Moskowitz said, the Bay Harbor employee may have relayed multiple pieces of incorrect information to town officials.

For one, the employee said that someone with whom he or she recently traveled had tested positive for COVID-19 in New York. The pair had traveled to Trinidad and Tobago, according to one state official.

But when Florida’s surgeon general, Scott Rivkees, contacted health officials in New York to inquire about the case, they told him the travel companion had actually tested negative for COVID-19, Moskowitz said.

“The surgeon general called his counterparts in the state of New York to confirm whether the travel companion tested positive, and the answer was, ‘No, they were negative,’ ” he said.

Town officials also say the employee told them that hospital staff deemed the employee a “presumptive positive” case of COVID-19, even though there was no test administered.

Under the language utilized by state and federal health officials, a case is considered a presumptive positive for COVID-19 only after a preliminary test at the local level comes back positive. A second confirming test is then performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether the Bay Harbor employee has been tested since leaving the hospital.

Nonetheless, town officials decided to take swift action by telling staff it was a presumptive positive case. Bruder, the mayor, later amended her state of emergency declaration Wednesday afternoon to remove that language.

The initial language, she told the Herald, “was based on the information that [the employee] related to us at the time.”

Brian Andrews, a spokesperson for the town manager’s office, said the town decided “unilaterally” to declare a state of emergency, and that the only direction from the Florida Department of Health was related to the wording of a statement posted on the town website.

That statement, sent after the email to staff had gone out, clarified that “no positive test has been confirmed.”

“The Town of Bay Harbor Islands is aware one of our employees is self isolating for possible exposure to coronavirus,” the statement said. “The employee has received emergency medical attention and has been told to go home and self isolate while awaiting further instructions from the Florida Department of Health.”

Town officials also explained that the state of emergency was declared so that the town can potentially access special funding from the state and waive procurement requirements for supplies and services.

The declaration of a presumptive positive case by Bay Harbor Islands, which is north of Miami Beach, sparked confusion in neighboring towns.

The town of Surfside sent out two notices to residents, one at 12:49 p.m. and another at 2:29 p.m., both of which said there was a “presumptive positive case” in Bay Harbor. The latter notice, which announced the cancellation of several after-school and recreational activities, featured the subject line: “Presumptive Positive Case in Bay Harbor Islands.”

In Bal Harbour Village, Mayor Gabriel Groisman tweeted at 3:10 p.m.: “We’ve been informed that our neighboring town, Bay Harbor Islands, has issued a State of Emergency as a result of an employee that is ‘presumed positive’ of the Coronavirus and is awaiting COVID-19 test results.”

State officials have not yet confirmed any positive cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County. There are currently 21 positive cases among Florida residents in other counties and two deaths.

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 6:26 PM.