Coronavirus Antibody Testing Comes To Hard Rock Stadium
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Governor Ron DeSantis was back in South Florida Wednesday at Hard
Rock Stadium, the busiest testing site for COVID-19.
That state-run testing facility has already tested 20,000 people.
It's where the governor unveiled a series of firsts.
A new sanitation facility is set up in the parking lot to disinfect N95 surgical masks.
Instead of using them once and throwing them away, the masks are cleaned and sent back to hospitals and first responders.
Watch the entire press conference in its entirety here:
"Having the ability to decontaminate provides a level of protection in case we have trouble with the supply chain," the governor said.
Testing is also expanding at the stadium.
Antibody testing at the start, will be limited to first responders and then expand to the general public.
With a pin stick, and two drops of blood put on a slide, within 15 minutes you will know if you have ever been exposed to the virus.
It's believed if you have the antibodies, you have a certain level of immunity to getting the virus.
The 'diagnostic test' where your nose is swabbed and the sample is sent away to a lab
to determine if you are currently infected is also getting a boost.
The governor stepped inside the first-ever mobile testing lab for the virus in Florida.
It's a bus that can be sent to hotspots. That has a mini-lab on board.
In 45 minutes you will be able to know if you currently have the virus.
The bus will be dispatched around Miami-Dade County. First to nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
While South Florida lags behind the rest of the state when it comes to opening up business, there are signs we are turning the corner.
"We have less than 100 people on ventilators in Miami-Dade County so the trend is good," said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
There is no date set yet when South Florida will move to phase one, which is a gradual reopening of more businesses.
"It will tell people whether they've developed the antibodies within a 15-minute time frame," said Gov. DeSantis, referring to antibody testing.
The governor also said the state is giving approval for CVS, Walgreens and Walmart to conduct tests and that he's looking into the possibility of home testing.
"I relaxed the restrictions on licensed pharmacists. They are now allowed to administer COVID-19 tests," DeSantis said. "This just makes it easier for people because these are things that may be in the neighborhood."
The mobile testing unit will be staffed by 10 members of the National Guard and 10 nurses, DeSantis said. Test results will be available within 45 minutes.
While the National Guard has already been testing in nursing homes, DeSantis said that the swabs are taken to private labs and results can take up to two days,
"With this, you're going to be able to go to long-term care facilities, get results back almost immediately and then be able to, if there is a case, isolate the worker, isolate the resident appropriately," DeSantis said.
DeSantis said the state is also looking to start testing blood donations for the coronavirus antibodies.
"That's a way to get a pretty powerful snapshot of data about how widespread antibodies are throughout the state of Florida," DeSantis said.
The mobile lab can test up to 3,500 individuals per week with results in about 45 minutes.
He said 200,000 antibody tests will be available in the coming days not only to the state-run drive-thru testing sites but also hospitals where medical staff need to know if they've developed the antibodies to fight the virus.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
