A recent influx of new cases has coincided with the start of Phase Two of reopening, but Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state is testing far more individuals, driving up the number of returning positive tests.
In the past two weeks, Florida has tested an average of 30,000 individuals daily. Between Tuesday and Sunday — when the state saw five consecutive days of more than 1,000 new cases, including a record-setting 1,426 cases Saturday — the daily testing average jumped to nearly 38,000.
But in late March and early April, the last time Florida experienced six straight days of more than 1,000 cases, the state was only testing 10,000 individuals per day.
“Part of this, I said from the very beginning, one of our goals was to increase testing just when we were entering the pandemic, but then a key part of the reopening is to really have widespread testing, so we’re now seeing that,” DeSantis said.
With 17 drive-thru and 35 walk-up state-supported testing sites, the state is continuing to expand its testing apparatus. And pharmacies, Home Depot and Publix are in the testing game with dozens more sites statewide.
“Testing more is good. It’s more convenient than ever before, but don’t mistake identifying more cases for thinking that there are more cases one day compared to two months ago,” the Governor said.
Testing capacity currently exceeds demand. In parts of the state, like Escambia County and Volusia County, drive-thru sites have seen as few as 15 visitors in one day while the sites can process hundreds of individuals.
DeSantis has highlighted nursing homes and prisons and the battlegrounds for outbreaks, but he added agricultural communities in Immokalee, Indiantown and Belleglade to the list of hot spots.
“What happens is, once it goes, because you’re in such close contact, it really spreads,” he said. “They’ve been really going in and aggressively testing all those areas, and there have been mitigation strategies that have been put in. Obviously you don’t want those folks mixing with the general public if you have an outbreak.”
Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in intensive care units has also dropped statewide from upwards of 600 when Phase One of reopening began in early May to upwards of 400 now.
“I said when we reopened, we’re going to double testing, people are going to say, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s more cases,'” DeSantis said. “But I think if you understand the nature of this disease, particularly when you’re testing people like in these ag communities, a lot of these people are 30, 40, 20s years old, so clinical consequences were very low of that.
As of Monday, the Department of Health has confirmed nearly 65,000 COVID-19 cases in the state. Including non-residents, 11,282 people have been hospitalized and 2,798 people have died.
This article first appeared at Florida Politics.
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This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2020.