HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Hillsborough County only announced its new Long-Term Care Task Force last week, but that group is already rolling out one of the most aggressive COVID-19 testing plans in the Bay area region.

The county has about 280 long-term care facilities and as of Tuesday morning, 27 of them reported cases of COVID-19 to the state.

That means four new facilities that weren’t on the health department's radar yesterday now are.

It’s a fear that is becoming a reality at many elder care homes: the virus lurking undetected and spreading to residents and staff.

“The asymptomatic carrier — that’s the person that comes in through the front door, a staff person — they’re screened appropriately, but may be spreading the virus,” said Hillsborough County Fire Marshall Ray Hansen.  

Hansen said its something the newly formed task force is looking to address head-on with one of the most proactive strategies seen in the Bay Area to date. 

The task force has partnered with AdventHealth and will now be sending teams to all of the county’s long-term care facilities, even the ones without any reported COVID-19 cases. They will be testing all staff and hopefully all residents. 

Hansen said if a test comes back positive, that person will be transported off site. If hospitalization isn't needed, residents will be brought to the Inn at University Village, a designated isolation facility, until they recover.

“If we can deal with an issue when it’s in its infancy, it’s much easier to deal with than waiting until it’s raging,” Hansen said.

In a statement from Hillsborough County, officials said: "The County has entered into an agreement with an assisted living facility to serve as a transition unit, which sets aside 60 COVID-19 transitional beds for senior care facility residents who were hospitalized with the virus, but who do not require hospitalizations. The assisted living facility, The Inn at University Village, will serve as a transitional unit between the hospital and their senior care community for these patients while they await final clearance to return to their previous residence." 

This plan sets facilities up for testing ahead of state-scheduled teams.  Hansen said the county is able to start the testing this week because it finally has enough testing kits from the state, as well as the lab capacity.

“Our ultimate goal is saving lives here,” Hansen said.

The task force will be starting with the most at-risk facilities, using the number of beds and ACHA inspection records as criteria to make that determination.