Florida National Guard personnel have been dispatched to multiple nursing homes and long-term care and assisted living facilities in the state to increase coronavirus testing of residents and staff.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued the mandate on Monday during a press conference in Tallahassee, according to local outlet WESH 2. It follows similar moves by Virginia, New York and Washington.
Florida has seen outbreaks of coronavirus cases in nursing homes, where older residents who are likely to have preexisting conditions tend to be more susceptible to severe cases of COVID-19.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 1,135 confirmed coronavirus cases among nursing home residents and staff in long-term care facilities, according to WESH.
NPR reported that the strike teams will include four members of the Florida National Guard. So far, these teams have been dispatched to 93 long-term care clinics to conduct coronavirus tests to prevent asymptomatic spread.
“What we have found in a lot of these long-term facilities is the spread is more significant among the staff. It’s not that they weren’t following the protocols in some cases, they were. It’s just somebody didn’t show symptoms,” DeSantis told reporters during the press conference.
Testing will reportedly begin in South Florida, where the number of coronavirus cases among the nursing home population is highest with 407 confirmed cases, according to WESH. The testing will start in facilities where testing has not yet been conducted, and will continue until testing kits run out.
Florida has a total of 22,4081 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. A statewide stay-at-home mandate took effect April 3, after weeks of holding out on implementing stricter measures issued by other states.
Nursing homes were one of the first locations to become coronavirus hotspots, beginning with the outbreak in the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., that resulted in 37 fatalities. The facilities remain a battleground in the fight against COVID-19, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) acknowledged long-term care facilities are registering a higher percentage of coronavirus-related deaths than hospitals.
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