Florida to receive 6.4M rapid tests, DeSantis says
Florida is receiving 6.4 million rapid antigen tests from the federal government to help the state protect nursing home residents and to check schoolchildren for the coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
“It’s an exciting day in terms of rolling out something new that I think will make a difference in coronavirus response and particularly for our most vulnerable populations,” DeSantis said at BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital.
Results can be achieved in as little as 15 minutes, DeSantis said. During a news conference, a DeSantis aide was tested, and his result came back negative.
But the while the Food and Drug Administration has approved the test for emergency use, it also has said negative results shouldn’t be taken as absolute proof a person isn’t infected and shouldn’t be used to guide decisions related to controlling the pandemic.
“Negative results do not rule out SARS-CoV-2 infection and should not be used as the sole basis for treatment or pa
tient management decisions, including infection control decisions,” the FDA’s chief scientist, Denise Hinton, wrote in a letter to Abbott labs last month approving the test for emergency use. “Negative results should be considered in the context of a patient’s recent exposures, history and the presence of clinical signs and symptoms consistent with COVID-19.”
The 6.4 million tests for Florida were part of President Donald Trump’s deployment of 150 million rapid tests nationally. The full name of the test is the Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Point of Care SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test.
They are to be deployed to nursing homes across the country in proportion to the communities they serve. About 800 Florida facilities have already received the tests, DeSantis said.
“If you think about 6.4 million tests, that is, I don’t even know if we could physically do that many and there is certainly not a demand for that many tests right now,” he said. “Capacity at drive-through sites is not even close to being utilized, and look there’s not as much virus. That is a good thing.”
Once Florida’s senior care centers and retirement communities have been helped, the state will then
begin deploying the rapid tests to public schools, DeSantis said.
Symptomatic students would be pulled from class and tested onsite, revealing whether they carry the virus. If the test is not positive, children who came into contact with the sick student will no longer be isolated or removed from campus.
“I think this (test) will be really good for that. Kids get sick for a whole bunch of things except coronavirus,” DeSantis said. “In fact, you’re going to see a lot of traditional, seasonal illnesses that they pass and things are going to be fine. And we do want people to know, and we don’t want to send people home.”
The test is a nasally administered and is said to be less invasive and painful than previous nasal-based tests, and they don’t have to be sent to a lab, DeSantis said.
“I think it’s the best test I’ve done of any of them,” DeSantis said. “It’s much more pleasant to use than the than standard PCR test.”
A certified nurse is required to administer the test, but DeSantis said he would look into waiving the requirement for schools without a nurse.
Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz will oversee the tests’ deployment. Moskowitz noted that in addition to the tests’ effectiveness and quick results the tests will also reduce testing costs by as much as 75% by no longer using labs or certain instrumentation.
DeSantis also noted that senior care centers would now have the ability to test visitors quickly onsite, meaning elderly residents wouldn’t have as many hurdles to clear in seeing their loved ones.
“We talk about protecting the people most vulnerable, that cannot mean that you just isolate vulnerable people and not let them also enjoy life,” DeSantis said. “Being able to give those folks the ability to reunite and be there in person with family members is a huge part of health.”