State has no plans to open testing sites

Orange County says Florida officials balk at requests for help

Orange County officials said Wednesday the state has balked at opening testing sites amid a tidal wave of demand and denied a request this week for four flashing signs to help provide information to people in miles-long lines.

A state testing site, like one that was operated at the Orange County Convention Center in 2020, would alleviate stress on locally run sites, said Danny Banks, the county’s emergency manager.

“We have been asking the state for weeks now if the state would, or intended to, open testing sites,” Banks said Wednesday evening. “The state clarified again today they have no intention … That’s the absolute biggest thing we need help with right now.”

Banks, who heads the county’s testing efforts, said he expects a third COVID-19 testing site at the South Orange Youth Complex opening Thursday, to be swamped. But opening additional local sites would be difficult to staff, he said, and wouldn’t meet the demand. The South Orange Youth Sports Complex will open for testing Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be open seven days per week. However, it will be closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

When the line closed at about noon at Barnett Park Wednesday, Banks said a line of cars about a mile long was turned away due to reaching capacity. The ones that made it through still waited for hours to get swabbed.

“If the state were to come in and open a 5,000-person-perday site, that would help,” Banks said, noting the state opened such a site at the Orange County Convention Center in 2020 as the pandemic began.

In a call with county emergency managers Wednesday, Banks said a state official made clear that wasn’t in the cards.

The state asked the county Wednesday how many takehome COVID-19 tests it would want if they could be supplied, and Banks said he requested 100,000.

Mayor Jerry Demings blasted the state and Gov. Ron DeSantis at his Tuesday news conferences for not helping counties battle the omicron variant, which has produced record-high infection totals and, also, immense demand for testing.

“We have not received any assistance from the state of Florida at our testing sites,” Demings said. “All Florida residents should be outraged … where is Ron DeSantis now?”

In response, Weesam Khoury, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health, noted more than 10,000 COVID-19 tests were completed in the county Monday, and that the state health department is monitoring hospitalizations and is ready to “assist hospitals as needed.”

“Fortunately, early data appears to show a lower per capita hospitalization rate than prior variants. Additionally, as of December 28, 2021, hospitalizations are down over 80% and ICU bed utilization is down nearly 90%, when compared to the peak of the Delta variant in August of 2021.”

In response to Demings’ comments, Khoury said: “As of today (Tuesday), as a result of the collaboration between the Department of Health in Orange County and the Orange County government, there are no unmet resource requests — from municipalities, hospitals, or private practices.”

Orange County officials said a request made Monday for four electronic message boards for use at testing sites was denied prior to Demings’ news conference Tuesday.

“Two would be used at Barnett Park and two would be used at Econ Soccer Complex to assist with communicating the status of our COVID-19 testing sites, since they both were closing early due to the overwhelming demand,” said Despina McLaughlin, a county spokesperson. “Our Health Services managers requested the signs as a quick way to relay the latest information to residents seeking tests. These requests were denied by FDOH the following day on December 28, 2021.”