JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo is expected to announce plans to re-prioritize who should get tested for COVID-19, focusing on those most vulnerable like the elderly and not children.
He took a shot at policies in California at a news conference in South Florida earlier this week.
"If your grandmother gets a test, that's a much more valuable test than the eight-year-old third graders that Los Angeles County is sending in to get weekly testing," Ladapo said.
Ladapo says new guidance should be released this week, and his comments, suggesting too many people are getting tested, contradict what local doctors believe has been one of the main tools in preventing any future spread.
"There has to be a middle ground between doing nothing and having lockdowns," said Dr. Adriana Cantville.
Dr. Cantville is a pediatrician at UF Health and says COVID testing is important for everyone, including children as they return to school.
"The point to having access to increase testing is that if people know their status they might change their behavior," Cantville told First Coast News.
She calls the surgeon general's comments 'dangerous' and points out he was making them at a podium that read: "Early Treatment Saves Lives."
She believes in order to reduce the COVID positivity rate, the state should do a better job promoting the vaccine.
"Testing is not going to get us out of this pandemic. What is going to get us out of this pandemic is increasing vaccinations," she said.