
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference at the Broward County Mobile Testing Site at CB Smith Park Thursday afternoon.
He said Florida currently has 390 positive cases of coronavirus, with 29 in Palm Beach County, 98 in Broward County, and 86 in Miami-Dade County. That makes South Florida the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
DeSantis added that 2,500 test kits and 4,000 collection swabs have been distributed throughout the state
“We’re living through the biggest crunch in supply and demands for medical supplies that we’ve ever seen in his country,” the governor explained.
The mobile testing site at CB Smith Park is being operated by the National Guard and should be able to conduct several hundred tests each day, according to DeSantis. The samples taken there will be shipped to a private lab, where they will be refrigerated before being tested. The site is drive-thru only, and will not accept pedestrians or bikers.
The governor says the process takes roughly eight minutes per vehicle, and testing will focus on healthcare workers and people ages 65 and over who are symptomatic.
Testing samples were initially sent to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), resulting in a week-long wait for people to receive their results. According to DeSantis, the Broward testing model will be replicated throughout the state if it proves successful.
Drive-Thru Testing Sites Set to Open This Week in Broward County