Coronavirus Update: Florida Setting Up Drive-Thru Testing In Broward County
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced a partnership with the National Guard and the Memorial Healthcare System in Broward County to set up a drive-thru coronavirus testing operation for "a limited subset of the population" and the tests would be paid for by the state. "All of these COVID-19 tests will be free to the patients," said DeSantis.
In a Sunday news conference, DeSantis said 170 guardsmen are already in Broward and hundreds more are coming. The Florida Department of Health said Sunday that 16 of the state's 39 new cases are in Broward County, which remains the state's hot spot for the disease with more than 30 confirmed infections. The state total reached 100 but with more than 500 pending test results, that number will continue to rise.
He said the state has seen a rapid increase of cases, and added, "we anticipate that will continue for the foreseeable future."
DeSantis touched on mass gatherings of young people, like in Miami Beach, are problematic which is why he supports the decision to by the cities of Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale to shut down Spring Break.
"To have people congregating in bars and on beaches undercuts our efforts to protect the vulnerable population," he said.
However, he said he is not yet in favor of totally shutting down bars and restaurants like Ohio and California. He says he is waiting for CDC guidance on bars and restaurants and says social distancing in restaurants would be good.
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The Governor also said he talked to the CEO of Publix Supermarkets and thanked the company and employees for working hard to clean stores and restock supplies due to the high demand of supplies as people are stocking up.
"A lot of people are going into Publix because they're going to be at home, they're working really hard, they're changing their hours so they can clean their stores."
The Governor also said state employees can transfer leave and sick time to other state employees, which will give families some relief with schools being closed.
Agency for Health Care Administration Sec. Mary Mayhew said they are working with health systems to identify additional hospital buildings that can be used if demand exceeds current hospital capacity.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee said the presidential primary was proceeding on Tuesday and that 600,000 have participated in early voting and over 1 million have voted by mail. She added "Floridians can safely and securely go to the polls."
