Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state will give about one million free at-home COVID-19 tests to elderly residents, starting with long-term care facilities and then “broader senior communities.”
DeSantis did not elaborate on the timeline by which the test kits will be distributed. The state has roughly 4.6 million people over the age of 65. The governor argued that it is important to conserve tests for vulnerable populations.
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“The point of the matter is not every single person needs to be going out and getting tests. You have healthy people,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “That’s part of the reason why you see the shortage is because you have a lot of low-value testing going on.”
DeSantis said he believes an initial panic over the omicron variant also contributed to shortages of tests. He suggested that mandating tests for healthy workers or healthy students is unnecessary.
The governor said he believes that stores in the state will have more at-home test kits available as people start to realize the variant “is more akin to a cold or the flu” for healthy people.
DeSantis also criticized the Biden administration and accused it of bungling its commitment made Dec. 21 to mail over 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests to homes. He blamed the Biden administration for shortages of COVID-19 treatment options in the state — a problem the governor has previously raised.
“Not only are they not promoting therapeutics, they are actively trying to stymie the distribution of things like monoclonal antibodies to states like Florida and Texas,” he said. “For so long, people didn’t even know that there were options for treatment.”
The federal government distributes some of the key COVID-19 therapeutics to the states. For example, in December, it gave each state a limited amount of Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment believed to be effective against omicron. In a press release, it argued that there was a limited supply and wanted to ensure each state had a balanced portfolio of the treatment.
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Florida has about 71% of its population age five and older vaccinated with at least one dose, according to data from the Florida Department of Health. This is below the national average of 78.5%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Florida recently reached a record high number of 150,251 daily positive cases Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths and hospitalizations still remain below state records. The United States recently shattered its record, reporting over a million daily COVID-19 cases.
