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Florida crisis: Demand for coronavirus tests spikes even as more tests become available
Sun Sentinel
MAR 30, 2020 | 6:54 PM
Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Monday morning the state of Florida has completed 50,000 coronavirus tests, mostly in the past two weeks.
Contrast that with the 330,000 calls that came in just six hours on Monday from people seeking tests at the new Palm Beach County site, and it quickly becomes apparent that the demand for testing far outstrips the supply, and the supply, say experts, needs to grow by a lot.
Testing capacity has grown. Up to March 15, the state was completing only about 200 tests for the new coronavirus a day. By March 30, that number was closer to 7,000 tests per day, according to data from the Florida Department of Health.
But only .002% of Florida’s almost 22 million residents have been tested for a virus that, according to DeSantis, may have been present in Miami as early as the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.
One problem, says Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, a professor of epidemiology at Florida International University, is that Florida has had to limit who it tests because of the scarcity of the diagnostic. Only symptomatic peoplhe who have with someone with a confirmed case, those with a history of travel, and those who’ve been hospitalized are likely to receive the tests, she said.
“The problem is if you have a close contact and you don’t have symptoms, you don’t meet the criteria," she says, pointing out that the state is missing out on finding many asymptomatic cases.
"The next step would be to expand it to close contacts without symptoms,” she says.
But even as the state tries to rapidly expand its testing capacity, it is unclear when that expansion will come.
As medical personnel swabbed driver after driver to the governor’s left on Monday morning while he spoke in front of the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, DeSantis announced that he was sending 1,750 rapid coronavirus test kits to Memorial Hospital in Broward County, and another unspecified number to Jacksonville. The test kits are capable of returning results in 45 minutes.
Contrast that with the 330,000 calls that came in just six hours on Monday from people seeking tests at the new Palm Beach County site, and it quickly becomes apparent that the demand for testing far outstrips the supply, and the supply, say experts, needs to grow by a lot.
Testing capacity has grown. Up to March 15, the state was completing only about 200 tests for the new coronavirus a day. By March 30, that number was closer to 7,000 tests per day, according to data from the Florida Department of Health.
But only .002% of Florida’s almost 22 million residents have been tested for a virus that, according to DeSantis, may have been present in Miami as early as the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.
One problem, says Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, a professor of epidemiology at Florida International University, is that Florida has had to limit who it tests because of the scarcity of the diagnostic. Only symptomatic peoplhe who have with someone with a confirmed case, those with a history of travel, and those who’ve been hospitalized are likely to receive the tests, she said.
“The problem is if you have a close contact and you don’t have symptoms, you don’t meet the criteria," she says, pointing out that the state is missing out on finding many asymptomatic cases.
"The next step would be to expand it to close contacts without symptoms,” she says.
But even as the state tries to rapidly expand its testing capacity, it is unclear when that expansion will come.
As medical personnel swabbed driver after driver to the governor’s left on Monday morning while he spoke in front of the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, DeSantis announced that he was sending 1,750 rapid coronavirus test kits to Memorial Hospital in Broward County, and another unspecified number to Jacksonville. The test kits are capable of returning results in 45 minutes.
More at link: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-coronavirus-desantis-where-florida-stands-20200330-qqibub2hpbdpbgwsta5idhtilq-story.html
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