Is mass coronavirus testing coming to the Keys? Top health official says he ‘misspoke’

Monroe County’s top health official said Monday he would like to see “massive testing” for COVID-19 in the Florida Keys.

But it’s not happening as of Tuesday afternoon.

In fact, supplies are running short, Monroe County officials said.

“We clearly aren’t getting more tests,” said County Mayor Heather Carruthers. “I think 200-plus people have taken it so far.”

Bob Eadie, administrator for the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County, said he misspoke during a conference call with Keys leaders on Monday morning.

“I hope I didn’t say massive testing — if I did I misspoke,” Eadie wrote Monday afternoon in an email to a FLKeysNews.com/Miami Herald reporter.

“I should have said community testing readily available to the public,” Eadie wrote. “Locations would be set up and anyone who wanted a test would be.”

There are logistical hurdles to bringing in mass testing to the Keys. Eadie said he wants to “begin the process of determining” what it would take to make it happen. There is no official definition of what constitutes mass testing.

“Based on anecdotal reports, there seems to be a great deal of interest from the public wanting to be tested,” Eadie wrote.

According to state reports, 175 people have been tested while 64 tests are awaiting results. Monroe, as of Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., has 26 confirmed cases, including 15 in Key West. Key Largo has four. Tavernier has two and Islamorada and Summerland Key each has one.

On the Monday morning call, Eadie said the Department of Health in the county needs more tests before any kind of mass testing can happen.

“Right now, our supplies are somewhat limited,” Eadie said.

Eadie said the Community Health Inc. testing site in Marathon has not had the volume of people expected, but that could be because people are under the impression they can get tested right away when they go. But the site is foremost a screening site, Eadie said.

That means, before the nasal swab to actually test for the virus happens, healthcare workers ask people a series of questions, including if they have recently been to an area that is experiencing a high number of cases or if they have been around someone with the virus.

“The test is the actual putting the swab into the nasal cavity and sending it off to the lab for testing,” Eadie said.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.