Today, Governor Ron DeSantis highlight’s progress made in Florida through efforts to expand access to live-saving monoclonal antibody treatments. Florida has 25 state-run monoclonal antibody treatment sites.
Since opening the first state monoclonal antibody site in Florida on August 12th, our state has experienced a more than 50% decrease in hospital admissions. Additionally, there has been a decline in hospital census for 24 consecutive days and COVID-like emergency room visits are down to the lowest point in nearly two months.
Micha Siegel, a Boca Raton resident who has received monoclonal antibodies, said, “Three weeks ago, I was fully vaccinated, had a family birthday party at my house, and we all ended up getting sick. I was sick for about two or three days before I got the treatment. The symptoms were… severe headaches, head congestion, colds, low-grade fever, and about 24 hours after [the treatment], it was basically gone. I think [monoclonals] are a great opportunity for everybody to know about whether you were vaccinated or not.”
President and CEO of Broward Health Shane Strum said, “As the world celebrated the arrival of the long awaited COVID-19 vaccine, another weapon in our arsenal against COVID became available. So, missing the spotlight shared by its vaccine counterpart, the monoclonal antibodies began being infused into recently diagnosed patients [and] really began to show a difference. As an early adopter [of] the therapy here at Broward Health, we actually started back on December 14th, and we really started to see the benefits of the treatments. Governor DeSantis took so much time to listen to our doctors, our nurses, our clinicians, spent a lot of time with our staff, to hear the [patient] stories and get a better understanding of what we’re actually doing here at Broward Health.”
Broward Health Medical Director of Ambulatory Services, Dr. Aldo Calvo said, “Thank you, Governor, for really putting a spotlight on a state and national level regarding the value of monoclonal antibodies. The way monoclonal antibodies work is through injecting the neutralizing antibodies and boosting the immunity of those patients with mild to moderate symptoms right away.”
Previously opened State of Florida sites are located at:
Alachua County
Fellowship Church
16916 Northwest U.S. Highway 441
High Springs, Florida 32643
Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sumter County
Barnstorm Theater
2720 Brownwood Boulevard
The Villages, Florida 32163
Hours: 7 days a week, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
To find locations to receive monoclonal antibody treatments around the entire state, please visit floridahealthcovid19.gov.
