Thread by @kylamb8

In a few moments, @FLSurgeonGen Dr. Joseph Ladapo and @SMarstiller of AHCA will be joining @GovRonDeSantis at a press conference at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale.

The Governor starts off by saying it's not clear that mABs won't still be a benefit, even against Omicron, but we know Delta is still around and it's clear that it's effective against that.

The Governor mentions we know Omicron is far less pathogenic than Delta based on a ton of data coming out of South Africa and Europe. We know it's mostly an upper respiratory virus compared to Delta, which was causing a lot of lower lung issues.

He also adds that Omicron is definitely spreading more rapidly than Delta. The other key is that while Omicron is causing more reinfections and breakthough infections, we know Omicron is providing better prior immunity against Delta itself.

Florida will open additional mABs sites as soon as the Federal government opens back up supply of monoclonals. But it's contingent on the government sending the needed doses (at least 30-40,000 additional).

Florida had been planning for this winter surge if needed. We can open sites up within 24 hours as soon as we have supply. We have been planning for additional sites and getting strike teams and clinics going with mABs. We also set aside money in the budget for additional supply.

There are several hospitals that have been making a distinction between "from" and "with" COVID-19 in Florida hospitals. Some hospitals are reporting over 50% are merely testing positive but in the hospital for something other than COVID. Our COVID utilization is among the lowest

We believe based on our surveillance that most of the severe cases being seen in area hospitals are due to Delta, despite many areas of the state being predominately Omicron cases.

FDEM has been pushing for more tests for places that need it. Local jurisdictions have been authorized (already) to set up testing sites.

In the meantime, the state is working on guidance to streamline who should be testing/when. This is to ease the rush of asymptomatic testing

If there are outbreaks in nursing homes, we will continue to look at monoclonal strike teams to quickly help mitigate risk.

It is a priority to attempt to decipher variant type quickly so if we know if it's Omicron or Delta, we can make an informed decision on which monoclonal antibody type we can use for strike teams and higher risk individuals wanting mABs in treatment sites.

Now Dr. Ladapo speaking:

Dr. Ladapo says Omicron is spreading rapidly but the good news is that is appears to be less virulent and hospitalizations are not increasing nearly at the same rate as cases. The change in hospitalizations is not anywhere near what it was previously.

He says the estimates are that on average, around half of the people hospitalized are there for something else. He says it's being seen in ICU usage, which is now much lower than it was.

Dr. Ladapo thanks the Federal government for reversing the decision to withhold monoclonals. He says it was a mistake to pull those to begin with.

Fluvoxamine is another treatment option that is proving effective against COVID-19. He says there are promising studies on inhalants in general. He says the state is working with state clinicians to get more treatment options into clinics.

Florida will reduce the use of low value testing and increase high value testing. He wants to prioritize the type of testing that will reduce severe outcomes. Guidance will come out by the state to prioritize the people that should be testing.

We need to stop living around testing. He says we'll be stuck in a cycle if we don't start to break away from the preoccupation from COVID determining the boundaries of living life.

Simone Marstiller of AHCA says hospitalizations are down 69% from the Aug. 18 peak and ICU is down 84% from the August peak.

The Governor is saying hysteria is again driving things and doing the things we have learned are destructive such as closing schools. He says we will not let fear drive our decisions in Florida. He also adds that with Omicron, it's not even justifiable.

The Governor says we will continue to take steps to mitigate risk as long as this virus is causing damage, but we will not let it shut us down.

"You can't let hysteria undercut the normal functioning of society," he adds as he opens it up to questions from the media.

"I should have been at the beach in Delaware and they would have been really happy with that," the Governor says of his single day absence from the schedule last Wednesday.

"These are folks that just aren't shooting straight right now," he adds of the political enemies that are making wild accusations.

"How big a failure have these vaccine passports been?" the Governor asks. He says all they've done is discriminated against people for individuals choices and created two-tiered society. He says they're doing nothing to stop all these cases across the country.

And that concludes the press conference.

/End