TAMPA, Fla — Critics say if Gov. Ron DeSantis had gotten tests into people’s hands earlier, we wouldn’t see lines quite so long at testing centers in our area and around the state.
The governor’s surgeon general says if people would follow the state’s new guidelines about who needs a test and who doesn’t, that would help ease the log jam.
The state has revised Florida Department of Health guidelines.
No one, they say, will be denied a COVID test, but they question whether younger, or healthier people need them.
“We don’t think it’s sensible that people who are unlikely to benefit, unlikely to have any change in their clinical outcome, to sort of be in line waiting to get tested,” said Florida Surgeon Gen. Dr. Joseph Ladapo.
Under the Florida health department’s new guidelines, people who might have been exposed to COVID-19 but aren’t showing any symptoms are no longer recommended to get a COVID-19 test.
That conflicts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends people get tested if they’ve got symptoms, been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, or if they are not fully vaccinated.
The CDC also considers testing to be crucial, since people without symptoms can also spread the virus. Critics say the long lines at testing centers are in part of the governor’s own making.
By banning vaccine mandates, they say, employers have been forced to give workers the alternative of regular testing instead. DeSantis also told cruise lines and other entertainment venues they could not require vaccine passports.
Now they require tests.
In fact, many people standing on line at Tampa’s testing site on Friday said they felt just fine. They didn’t want a COVID test, but for different reasons, they were required to get one.
“I’m trying to get this one so I can go back to work and actually make my money to pay my bills,” said Jason Kintight, who works in the healthcare field.
Monica Keuchel and her family felt just fine too. But their vacation plans required a test.
“The whole holiday we tried to wear masks and don’t get to any hotspot,” she said. “And today we have to, because we are required. And that’s not very easy for us.”
On Twitter, Florida State Representative Carlos G. Smith asked Gov. DeSantis to, “… STOP shaming folks for waiting in lines for COVID testing. Not everyone,” he wrote, “can just stay home for days on end WITHOUT pay. They need a negative test to return to work.”
U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (D) District 14 representing Tampa Bay, agreed, blaming Gov. DeSantis’ own policies.
“By making testing more difficult, that really is a hardship on working people and a lot of businesses that now need those tests to return to work,” said Castor.
The city of Tampa and others operating testing sites in the region say there is no supply shortage of the tests themselves. The lines, they say, have been created by a sharp uptick in demand.