ORLANDO, Fla. – In the fight against coronavirus, the state of Florida releases daily reports and has created an online dashboard that is updated twice a day.
News 6 decided to take a closer look at the state’s testing numbers for coronavirus --something Gov. Ron DeSantis talks about at every briefing.
“You hear Florida did this, that, well what does that mean? What’s the basis of comparison?” DeSantis said at a press conference this week.
According to the Florida Department of Health, Florida has administered more than 318, 827 tests for COVID-19.
With nearly 22 million people in the state, it would appear the state has tested well over 1% of the population.
But because the state does not break out the number of re-tests in the testing totals, it's impossible to know for sure how many people have been tested, so the Trust Index on this issue is be careful when digesting these stats.
After reviewing this topic, we've found some issues - Be Careful.
According to the state’s report, the Department of Health has confirmed 3,263 positive cases of coronavirus.
News 6 has confirmed that all of those people were given a handout, advising them how to discontinue home isolation.
They must have two negative tests in a row 24 hours a part, according to the handout, so presumably those 3,000 people had to be tested a total of three times.
We also know that first responders and health care workers are often re-tested before being allowed back to work.
News 6 spoke with Dr. Raul Pino with the Department of Health.
He confirmed re-tests are included in the total testing numbers, so when you see 300,000 tests, that may not mean 300,000 people.
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