Gov. Ron DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, acknowledged Thursday that 800,000 to a million Covid tests had expired in a state stockpile, with the omicron variant spreading and residents facing long lines for testing.
The acknowledgement came during a press conference Thursday, when reporters were asking the governor questions following an announcement related to getting Covid-19 test kits to senior citizens in group living.
The expired testing kits had become an issue earlier, when Florida Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Nikki Fried said in a Dec. 30 statement: “It’s come to my attention that Governor DeSantis’ Department of Health has a significant number of Covid-19 tests stockpiled that are set to expire imminently.
“Given the Governor’s lack of transparency throughout this pandemic, there’s no known public information about these tests or how soon they expire. With omicron infections exploding throughout Florida, I beg of him to release these tests immediately to local counties and cities, and to stand up state-sponsored testing sites. To let these tests expire while Floridians anxiously wait for hours in testing lines is negligent at best, and heartless at worst.”
On Thursday, Guthrie explained what happened:
“We had between 800,000 and a million test kits, Abbott rapid test kits, in our warehouse that did expire,” Guthrie said in answer to reporter questions at the press conference in West Palm Beach.
Guthrie said demand for the tests was low in the fall, prior to the emergency of the omicron variant.
“We tried to give them out prior to that but there wasn’t a demand for it,” Guthrie said. He said the state secured an extension on the expiration dates, from September to December, which expired, and have requested another one, which is pending.
On Thursday, Fried, a Democrat who is a 2022 gubernatorial candidate, blasted the governor about the expirations.
“It’s bad enough that Governor DeSantis has deprioritized testing, with omicron exploding across Florida, but it’s an absolute disgrace for the Governor and his communications team to have lied and covered up the massive failure of a million unused tests while Floridians wait in hours-long lines for local tests that are running out,” Fried said in a press statement.
“Now the Governor has to beg President Biden for another waiver to even use these expired tests – should they still be safe and effective. The Governor’s executive failure during this pandemic continues to hurt Floridians. This is why I speak up.”
In DeSantis’ intended theme of the press conference, he announced that the Division of Emergency Management had procured a supply of at-home tests that will be prioritized for senior-living facilities.
“We’ve been able to secure nearly 1 million at-home tests and make them available to nursing homes and long-term care facilities,” DeSantis said, reprising his “Seniors First” theme from early in the Covid pandemic.
Guthrie said shipments of “starter kits” based on each facility’s bed count would begin today, arriving at their destinations this weekend. They are intended for use only in people exhibiting Covid symptoms.
Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller said Florida is home to 700 nursing homes and 3,000 assisted living facilities.
Asked by a reporter whether nursing homes and ALFs are experiencing outbreaks, Marstiller disclosed none.
“I don’t have any specific numbers for you now,” she said. “As in the general population, we are seeing more cases.”
Asked by reporters if the governor himself has been tested, DeSantis said that he had not been tested recently. He also said that he hadn’t had any COVID symptoms, so he didn’t get tested. DeSantis had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the spring of 2021.
DeSantis made it clear that residents can test every day, if they choose. But Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has said that “If you have no symptoms, please don’t get tested.”
Ladapo has also provided new guidance in Florida on Covid testing, including: “Individuals who may have been exposed to Covid-19, but have no symptoms: Covid-19 testing is unlikely to have any clinical benefits.”
–Laura Cassels, Florida Phoenix
David S. says
This guy is nothing more than an embarrassment to the people of Florida. Quit now and take that jackass surgeon general with you.
James1954 says
And this guy wants to be President? God help us!
palmcoaster says
Bozos at work….Floridians in line waiting for scarce test and these two let them languish to expiration in a warehouse without releasing them? The nutty conspiracies minded at the contaminated helm.
Skibum says
This latest bombshell is further proof that Deathsantis and his taxpayer funded band of idiots are doing everything possible to avoid letting Floridians, tourists and the press know just how high the infection rate is here in FL, and the extent that he has bungled the response to the pandemic in this state just to please his political base of fools who flout the vaccine, common sense precautions, and believe all of the lies being spread by the followers of a defeated, impeached former president. Deathsantis’ lack of concern and inactions have caused needless hospitalizations and I’m sure many deaths, because he has fought tooth and nail against increased testing, transparency of the true virus infection (which last week rose to an all-time high of 948% increase in people infected with coronavirus in FL). Instead of following medical science, Deathsantis has instead been a loud proponent of people getting sick, THEN crowding into hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and other sites set up to administer monoclono antibodies to help, but ONLY AFTER they have become sick. And the result of his horrible priorities is that instead of a simple vaccine that costs just a few dollars to prevent us from getting sick in the first place, the monoclono antibody treatment costs thousands of times more that the insurance companies and/or medical facilities have to pay for, causing the cost of health care in FL to skyrocket even higher to pay for his administration’s backward coronavirus strategy based on his political ideology instead of following the medical science… not to mention common sense, of which he has none. The sooner this state can rid ourselves of this slug, the better every Floridian will be!
Timothy Patrick Welch says
Supplies and products regularly expire, the only way to see this is they planned for the worse and fortunately the transmission rates in Florida were much less than other states. Such is the life of Emergency Preparedness.
Makeitso1701 says
There’s a reason why people have given mini trump the nickname “DeathSantis”.
People, let’s vote this moronic out office!
Stephen p Barnier says
He is best the best thing for Florida PERIOD
Bill C says
The reason the tests expired is because DeSantis did everything he could to discourage people from getting tested and minimized the value of getting tested as a means of stopping the spread and mutation of the virus.
Steve says
Excellent comment nothing to add but Vote Accordingly
Steve says
IFF Not now then when?? Need a match for what you’re smokin
deb says
This is pure negligence by Death Santis and his band of unmerry men. Someone on his staff should have made some effort to note the expiration date of these kits and while not needed in this state to send these kits to another maybe his buddy in TX that had a wild outbreak of Covid. .At least the could have been used., And now Ronny is crying for test kits. Just a pathetic waste of state resources and medical kits..
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Expired taxpayer testing supplies is no more than” such is life’ ? Maybe in your life Mr. Welch but not in mine!
Nor is such complacency and negligence by any government official entrusted with protecting any facet of my ‘health, welfare and/or safety ever acceptable under any circumstances whatsoever.
Willy Jones says
Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance! You know it should not be a matter of politics. Simply stated the person in charge (DeSantis) failed us. Sorry, but in my book, he shows zero leadership. Absolutely pathetic and the GOP will see that this guy gets reelected. Sad, Sad, and Ignorant.
Mark says
LOL. Did any of the commenters read the article? Did someone not get to test? Is someone being turned away from testing now? Some tests expired because no one wanted to take the test. Get over it, and quit trying to create a problem that isn’t there. Everybody wants to either move here or come here to party yet DeSantis is bad like orange man.
Full stop says
Citation needed for your baseless claims.
jim says
Way to go Ron follow the Pumpkin playbook I guess you didnt see what it did for him
marlee says
This guy is incompetent.
Vote him outta Florida!
Percy's mother says
For God’s sake give it a break. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Before commenting on monocLONAL (not monoclono) antibodies, educate yourself about the infusion (either by IV or 4 by injections into deep fat areas of the body, primarily the lower abdominal area).
By the way, there is no “crowding into hospitals, clinics, doctors offices” for monoclonal antibody infusion.
As I said, you don’t know what you’re talking about, though you think you do.
ALSO, ever heard of the increasing incidence of breakthrough cases? Breakthrough cases means those who’ve been fully vaccinated who then contract Covid (any variant). Vaccines DO NOT prevent anyone from contracting COVID. Breakthrough cases are becoming common . . . to spell it out, you got fully vaccinated BUT GOT COVID ANYWAY.
Let me stop there, even ‘tho I could go on.
WaitingonChangeinFl says
lol.. seriously you believe that.. Ummm well lets go back and see. DeSantis denied there were tests being stored somewhere in a warehouse while counties were begging for them. Nikki Fried called him out on it knowing there were some located in a warehouse. And NOW we are going to claim our rates were lower than other states.. I mean you do not have to be a rocket scientist to see withholding tests means they are keeping our numbers skewed. And let us mention that people were waiting in line for hours to be tested and testing sites were scrambling to get additional tests while turning away hundreds of people daily during the holidays and meanwhile over 1 million tests were allowed to sit and expire when clearly there was a need for them.
Skibum says
You must be joking!!! Florida is now experiencing a 948% increase in virus infections, and during the pandemic has ALWAYS been one of the states with the most infections, particularly in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties that were leading the state in infections. Every day on the news you see video of miles and miles long lines of cars waiting 4, 5 and 6 hours in traffic just to get tested… that’s how virulent the coronavirus is and has been in this state. And yet, millions of test kits in state custody were allowed to languish on warehouse shelves until after their expiration date rather than being distributed across the state where they were so desperately needed. And why? Simply because our gov did NOT want the negative publicity spreading that due to his ineptitude about his “strategy”, the virus level in FL was spiking to a level not seen even previously before we had the vaccine! This was never a normal occurrence as you opined, but ineptitude on a grand scale.
Bill C says
You present yourself as an expert but you’re the dumbell. The vaccine prevents hospitalizations and death from covid. The overwhelming majority of ICU and death is among the unvaccinated.
Shark says
DEATHsantis !!!!!
Bill C says
ps Do you really think it’s preferable to get “infusion (either by IV or 4 by injections into deep fat areas of the body, primarily the lower abdominal area)” rather than just stay out of the hospital in the first place? Some doctor!
Deborah Coffey says
Yes! What supreme incompetence or supreme dereliction of duty. Or, maybe it was a deliberate attempt to cause MORE Covid in their attempt to achieve herd immunity. Either way, they should both be arrested.
Deborah Coffey says
Bravo! Now, let’s ALL vote!
Steve says
Potential Prevention versus Treatment I went with Vaccine Thx anyway
Timothy Patrick Welch says
Such is life in a vacation destination, people book their fantasy trip, and bring along their baggage. Including trash, disease, and drugs. Thankfully they also leave some cash behind.
Deletecorruption says
Right you are. Are these ezpired tests even ABLE to detect Omnicron? There are 3 current rapid tests that cannot:
“As of December 15th, the FDA says the tests listed below should not be used until their inability to detect the omicron variant is resolved.
Name of Manufacturer: Link to more information:
Meridian Bioscience, Inc. Revogene SARS-CoV-2
Tide Laboratories, LLC DTPM COVID-19 RT-PCR Test
Applied DNA Sciences LineaCOVID-19 Assay Kit
FDA: Tests Expected to Fail to Detect the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant (As of 12/15/2021)”
Nanci Whitley says
Yes!
Nanci Whitley says
How many people have left a testing site because it was taking hours. Of course people wanted testing.
Tony Mack says
So the LT says to the Colonel — “Looks like we’re headed for a major fight, sir, and I need more ammo, bandages and other supplies for my men, so they don’t get caught with a shortage.” And the Colonel replies..”Well, LT, I’d like to give you more ammo and all that other stuff you say you need to help you people survive…and I have tons of it back here in the rear with the gear…but if I give you all the ammo and all that other stuff you need to be victorious in the fight , well, then, I’d be out of ammo and that just wouldn’t do.”
Any guess as to the outcome????
Ray W. says
Why should you go on, Percy’s Mother? You are right and wrong at the same time, simply because you left out the most important point. You are right in that fully vaccinated people do incur breakthrough infections. You are massively wrong by leaving out the difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated when either become infected.
By now, the vast majority of people know that antibodies created by vaccines respond to new viral infections. That is what antibodies do. When people accept vaccinations, which create antibodies against viruses, they can still be infected by others who are shedding viral organisms. The invading viral organisms attach to healthy cells in order to replicate. When a newly infected person’s body detects the invading viral organisms, the already existing antibodies naturally respond to the site of the viral infection, with a resulting higher probability that the effects of the new viral infection will be limited in overall scope. Compare this to the antivaxxer’s body. Lacking antibodies to the invading viral organisms, but possessing the capacity to create antibodies only after the infection begins to spread, the antivaxxer’s natural response is to begin to create those new antibodies. The slower antibody response allows the replicating viral load to be far greater in number and potential impact. Thus, among the vaccinated, fewer infected people have to be placed on ventilators and fewer infected people die, when compared to the numbers of the ventilated and the dead among the antivaxxers.
Percy’s Mother presents as if she is someone who knows what she is talking about. Leaving out the most important part, however, lessens whatever point she is trying to make. Yes, Skibum should have inserted “seriously” into the phrase “getting sick.” Preventing serious sickness from a viral infection is very important.
And Percy’s Mother might improve her comments in the future by pointing out that DeSantis is leading from behind when he advocates for monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for a viral infection. Yes, monoclonal antibodies have shown a capacity to lessen the overall impact of a viral infection, but if one waits too long to seek treatment it reduces the effectiveness of the treatment. Also, early inferences drawn from studies of omicron viral infections reflect findings that two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments are ineffective. The third option is marginally effective. If DeSantis wants to lead from the front, all he needs to do is spend four or five seconds every day to ask Floridians to set an appointment to get vaccinated. That way, he can lead from the front and still lead from behind by recommending monoclonal antibody treatments after one becomes infected.
Overall, Percy’s Mother can do better. But will she?
John Stove says
Jesus Christ,,,,get your head out of the sand….the guys lets 800,000 badly needed testing kits expire, hospitals are turning people away and he keeps blathering on about how “Great” Florida is doing?
DeathSantis is a local and National embarrassment, just like the people who support him.
Cynthia says
Well said. We all need to remember to vote to get these folks out and bring in some with common sense to protect Floridians.
Skibum says
You must be one of those rabid anti-vaccers. Thank you for pointing out my spelling error, which I noticed once I already hit send. But the point you are making about breakthrough cases, which is true, does nothing to minimize the corrupt, anti-science malfeasance perpetrated on this state by the idiot in office who is sworn to PROTECT us… instead, we all desperately need protection from HIM! If you’re unable to acknowledge that, then God bless you. If you can’t fathom the significant difference between getting a simple vaccine shot to prevent hospitalization or death from a potentially deadly, out-of-control virus that has spread around the earth, from having very expensive monoclonol antibody treatment after already getting sick and rolling the dice on your medical outcome, then I’m sorry but I’m not the one who is in need of some education on the subject. But have a nice day anyway, and please try NOT to infect anyone!
starryid says
Let’s bring Andrew Cuomo to Tallahassee to clean up this mess!
Fredrick says
Applause….. Yes he is…
A.j says
Don’t blame me I voted for the Democratic candidate.
Robjr says
He was not given the name DeathSantis for nothing.
And he’s working hard to keep it.
Keep Denying It says
ACTUALLY … I tried to find where to get tested last week after having some possible symptoms. I am fully vaxed but understand there are still breakthrough cases and cannot afford to expose my elderly parents. I was referred to JACKSONVILLE to get a test! So, yes, I was unable to get tested locally. Expiration of those tests is a complete failure in leadership. There ARE people trying to get tested, particularly after the holiday season influx of tens of thousands of unvaccinated people from out of state who flooded in and refused to use masks. The increase in positive diagnoses and hospital admissions since Thanksgiving is a factual statistic. My husband works in the medical field. I trust his judgment.
Trailer Bob says
Political BS. Now if someone could just be more clear as to how many people didn’t get a test due to this. Myself and everyone I know had no problems getting a test…?
mark101 says
Thanks, Ron, I see you are on top of this as usual. NOT !.
Jimbo99 says
Check your medicine cabinets & refrigerators, the biggest complainers of expired test kits are those that probably have old aspirin & anything else that has expired. It’s a test kit, there is no cure & it seems to be spreading regardless as it has contaminated the sewage water. They monitor that and track it, levels of Covid spike with every variant. Anyone tell you how they’re removing Covid from the sewage water ? Read up on fecal bacteria in your home ? If they can’t eliminate & purify that, how do they ever hope to eliminate Covid in the water supply.
Trailer Bob says
Many government run offices have long lines…you know…like the perennial lines at the motor vehicle department. Sometimes you just have to wait. Stop whining…
The dude says
Yet you and yours will incessantly complain about high taxes.
DeathSantis is nowhere near as bad as the orangeman… yet.
He’s trying though. He may just get there yet.
Steve says
Spin doesnt work. Thousands over here in Central Florida turned away last week. Lack of Tests . Stop making excuses for lame ass No Leadership rondon the buffoon. You make yourself look foolish.