Desantis: Asymptomatic can forgo COVID testing
Fla. governor announces virus guidelines for state
NAPLES, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron Desantis said Tuesday that Floridians who have not been credibly exposed to COVID-19 and have no symptoms of infections don’t need to get tested for the virus and are overwhelming already overcrowded test sites.
Desantis, flanked by Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller, announced the new testing guidelines at an afternoon news conference in Naples.
Ladapo described the thinking this way: “It’s not about restricting access to testing, it’s about de-programming or de-normalizing this idea that you can’t go anywhere unless you get tested,” he said. “If you have no symptoms, please don’t get tested. You’re so unlikely to benefit from that, and you could be harmed.”
Ladapo and Desantis used the example of seemingly healthy schoolchildren who have been exposed but are otherwise asymptomatic. Those children, they said, are being unnecessarily harmed by keeping them away from the classrooms and their peers – as well as disrupting family life.
This policy is at odds with other public health guidelines including that of the World Health Organization.
The governor also called on the federal government to give Florida a large supply of monoclonal antibody treatment, which he also told media in Jacksonville after a scheduled morning news conference there was delayed by protesters. One person was arrested.
He criticized the federal government for how it allocates the supply of the treatment and said Florida is not getting its fair share. The state has been allocated 12,000 doses when it recently asked for 40,000 doses.
“That is woefully inadequate for what we need,” Desantis said.
He reiterated his position that Florida’s policies of not doing lockdowns, of treating seniors first and making monoclonals available have brought more people to the state, while the federal government’s approach of vaccinations and mandates has failed.
“They put all their eggs in one basket and have not been willing to pivot,” Desantis said.
Ladapo said the state is revising its testing guidelines to emphasize people who are at high risk, like the elderly, and people with symptoms.
“We are trying to focus on high-value testing,” he said.
The governor this week has renewed his push for more availability of monoclonal antibody treatment against COVID-19 and says the federal government needs to release its “stranglehold” of the supply or allow states to purchase it directly.
The federal government had announced it was halting distribution of the treatment made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly to states but reversed course after receiving a letter from Ladapo, according to the governor’s office. The federal government is allowing states to continue ordering supply.
But Desantis, a staunch critic of the president, says Florida needs at least 30,000 more doses a week than what it is receiving. The state plans to open new sites to treat 250 to 300 patients a day at each location.
The antibodies are made in a laboratory and are given by infusion at staterun sites and can be effective against serious illness and can help people recover faster.
Last summer and fall when the delta variant of COVID-19 was hitting the state hard, the state Division of Emergency Management opened 25 monoclonal antibody sites around Florida.
The state Department of Health on Friday reported 298,455 new COVID cases in the last week.