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DeSantis touts single-day numbers as progress
Lloyd Sowers reports
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Governor Ron DeSantis says the coronavirus numbers are improving statewide, but there are large differences depending on where you are in Florida.
“There’s more hospitalizations in Miami-Dade than in Collier, Lee, Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Duval combined. And it’s not even close,” he said.
RELATED: Track Florida coronavirus cases by county with this interactive COVID-19 map
The governor spoke from Lee Health in Fort Myers where doctors say elective surgeries now allowed in phase-one reopening are still only about half the number they saw before the pandemic.
DeSantis said Florida hospitals will receive the antiviral drug Remdesivir, but not right away. A federal government list shows New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts will receive the drug first.
DeSantis said Florida will in the second group of states to get it.
RELATED; Coronavirus cases in Florida approach 41,000 in Monday update; 14 new deaths reported
DeSantis said he believes antibody tests will show that the coronavirus was here earlier than first believed. He also expects new antigen testing to arrive in Florida soon.
“That one that just got emergency approval from the FDA for results in 15 minutes and it will be able to be produced, but I think it will be able to be mass-produced easier and get the results quicker,” he continued.
The governor said there are 467 COVID-19 patients in intensive care in Florida hospitals. He said 263 of the state’s 6,500 available ventilators are in use.
This story was reported from Tampa, Fla.