WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The latest wave of COVID-19 driven by the more infectious omicron variant has brought a high demand for testing, leading Floridians to get stuck in line, often for hours, to find out if they've been infected with the virus.
After hinting at it for days, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo on Thursday laid out the new strategy they hope will get those tests in the hands of people who need them most.
It sounds a lot like the governor's strategy for the COVID vaccine rollout seen at the start of 2021: "seniors first."
It's all about "symptom-based, high-value" testing, according to Kevin Guthrie, Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Guthrie said that the state has secured nearly 1 million at-home COVID tests and will send them out to nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the state. The tests are starting to be shipped out today and should start arriving over the weekend, he added.
Each facility will be given a "starter kit" of tests based on the number of residents then will be able to reorder tests through an online portal, according to Guthrie.
“We’ve obtained tests and we're directing them to where the tests are most likely to have a benefit. Which is in communities and environments where high-risk individuals reside," Ladapo said. "This is sensible public health."
"It does not make sense to be running around with swabs, testing people who are completely healthy," the surgeon general added.
This new strategy, DeSantis explained, will not prevent anyone who wants a COVID-19 test from getting one. It will just deter people who are asymptomatic or low-risk from getting tested if it will not change the outcome of their treatment.
“At the end of the day we need to make sure that healthy people, whether it's healthy kids or healthy workers, are able to participate in society," the governor said.
“We’re not restricting access, were just basically sort of unwinding the thinking that the national leadership has managed to, unfortunately, infuse many Americans with and it's this notion that if you're healthy you still need to go get tested for something so you can determine whether you're sick," Ladapo added.
The governor said the state is also working on securing more monoclonal antibody treatments but is running into issues with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“We have everything we need except for HHS releasing the medication to the state of Florida," he said.