BROWARD COUNTY – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced more COVID-19 testing will become available to residents in South Florida after Broward and Miami-Dade Counties report having the most cases in the state.
“Almost half of the total cases in Florida are in Broward and Dade, and obviously Broward disproportionately to Dade has more given the differences in population,” said DeSantis.
The Florida Department of Health reports Broward and Miami-Dade Counties nearly reach a combined 200 confirmed cases in the state. On Thursday Governor DeSantis announced his plans to provide more testing kits to hospitals in that area and even establish the first drive-up testing sites in Florida. However, medical staffs are still in need of more supplies.
“We are right now living through the biggest crunch in demand for various medical supplies that we’ve ever seen in our countries history,” said DeSantis. “Everybody really in the world is trying to procure this stuff.”
DeSantis says in the next few days residents will see drive-up testing sites established to help test and receive results quicker than usual. Several local hospitals in Broward have stepped up to help the state.
“As this program gets going over the next couple days hopefully what will end up happening is the people who get swabbed here,” he said. “They’ll just take swabs bring it right over to their lab at the hospital, and then get people the results quicker.”
However, DeSantis says the drive-up testing site and testing kits will now be for everyone at first. DeSantis says this program will focus on two groups of people. Health care workers and senior citizens 65 and over.
“If you’re 65 or older, if you’re symptomatic, if you’ve been on a cruise or affected area, if you’re immunocompromised that’s the group that’s gonna to be the focus on to start,” said DeSantis.
Seven other states in the U.S. have started drive-up testing sites such as California, Texas, Colorado, and Washington State.