■ DeSantis wants to speed testing in Orange, says schools need to open.
Governor also says schools need to reopen
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he is asking the federal government for more medicine and will create designated drivethrough lanes at testing sites in Orange, Broward and MiamiDade counties for people with coronavirus symptoms to speed up results.
DeSantis also said Florida schools need to reopen as soon as possible.
“We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential, and that included fast food restaurants, it included Walmart, it included Home Depot,” the governor said at a press conference in Jacksonville with U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. “But if all that is essential, than educating our kids is absolutely essential. … If you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools.”
DeSantis said designated testing lanes for Orange, Broward and Miami-Dade, three of the counties with the highest volume of testing, are needed because the turnaround on results has been slower than he expected.
“I think at the end of March, we were like 100,000 [tests] a day, maybe somewhere in that range as a country,” DeSantis said. “Now we’re at 650,000 and we may even hit 700,000 tests in a day. The problem with that has been the lab turnaround is just getting backed up.”
The governor said the state will try to get contracts with labs that can turn around results in 48 to 72 hours
“When the tests are taking a long time to get turned around, if you’re asymptomatic, what are you supposed to do?” he said. ”Stay home and wait? … Then if you’re symptomatic, obviously, you need to know whether you
have coronavirus or you have something else.”
The event took place on a day when Florida reported a record number of coronavirus deaths, a lagging indicator compared with the skyrocketing number of new cases over the last month.
The state reported 120 new deaths, a record for a single day, with 8,935 new cases Thursday for a total of 232,718 and a death toll of 4,009. The 18.39% positivity rate and the number of new hospitalizations are also the highest on record.
DeSantis was not asked by reporters about the death numbers.
But he said he asked the Trump administration for more Remdesivir, a drug that has shown promise in treating patients with COVID-19.
“We think we need to get it here as soon as possible,” DeSantis said. “So that is in the pipeline. I think we’re first in line.”
Scalia’s presence was to focus on unemployment as the spread of coronavirus has slammed the economy and DeSantis praised JaxPort for its efforts to keep Florida’s economy running.
But Scalia also focused on schools reopening, a high priority of the administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which include such steps as desks being placed 6 feet apart, mandatory masks and closing playgrounds and cafeterias, were criticized by Trump in tweets as “very tough” and “expensive.”
Florida Secretary of Education Richard Corcoran announced his order mandating schools reopen next month the same day Trump tweeted, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!”
But districts such as Miami-Dade have said they would not reopen until the county returns to Phase 2 of reopening, which the county pulled back from last week. And Orange County teachers protested the state mandate on Tuesday.
On schools, DeSantis cited CDC studies to stress that children under 18 don’t generally spread the disease, adding that he “would not hesitate” putting his own children in school if they were school-age. His children are 3, 2, and 3 months old.
But critics have said those numbers are unclear because not many children have been tested across the country. And just Thursday, there were reports Thursday of 82 children and staff at a Missouri sleep-away camp being infected.
DeSantis also commented on the forthcoming Republican National Convention, scheduled to be held in last August in Jacksonville, and news that it might migrate to an outdoor venue despite the time of year.
“My view was that outside was always something they were looking at,” DeSantis said. “Safety is nonnegotiable. It’s going to be a safe environment.”
When asked about the climbing case numbers in the state, DeSantis once again cited the younger median age of new positive cases, an age group less likely to need hospitalization.
He also said that while some parts of the state have approached or exceeded 20% positivity rates, the staff being tested at long term care facilities have seen much lower rates. In just the last week, 57,000 test results from those facilities had a positivity rate of 2.3%.
“So that is good news and perhaps they are protecting themselves,” DeSantis said.
He also continued to push for those at risk to stay safe.
“If we can protect the elderly, continue to protect the long term care facilities, I think we’ll get through this … We just have to be extra vigilant.”