NO DISTRIBUTION EFFORT
Florida's Desantis: 'Lack of demand' reason 1M COVID-19 tests expired
By UPI Staff

Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged this week that between 800,000 and 1 million COVID-19 tests sat expired in a state warehouse because of a "lack of demand." File Photo By Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Friday that 1 million COVID-19 test kits expired because of a lack of demand in the state in September, October and November.

Kevin Guthrie, Florida's Department of Emergency Management, admitted alongside DeSantis during a Thursday press conference that between 800,000 and a million Abbott test kits expired in a warehouse.

There was widespread desire for tests in December as COVID-19 case counts in the state skyrocketed and lines for tests stretched for hours, but Guthrie and DeSantis said there hadn't been a demand for them.

The comment came as the governor announced a plan to get 1 million tests to distributed to Florida's seniors.

"Having a stockpile was the right thing to do," Desantis said Friday during a press conference in Lake Butler, Fla.

"We just had a lack of demand that happened in September, October, November. Nobody was requesting them. They would've been used had we had Omicron then," Desantis said.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried accused the governor of stockpiling soon-to-be-expired tests, an allegation DeSantis's office called "bizarre."

DeSantis said Thursday that there wasn't adequate staff on hand to distribute the tests.

Testing sites across the state have been overwhelmed for weeks with people looking to get screened for COVID-19 because of the contagious Omicron variant.