By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
A lifesaving treatment for COVID-19 has become scarce in Florida.
Monoclonal antibody treatments were available in Fanning Springs and High Springs until November of last year when the federal government began slowing shipments to Florida and other states.
The closest antibody site for residents of Levy County appears to be the UF Shands Hospital in Gainesville, but the hospital posted a notice online saying it has limited quantities available and only for eligible UF patients. The notice said there would be no walk-in patients receiving the antibody treatments, including those who come through the emergency room.
Florida has a standing order from DeSantis that allows patients to receive a monoclonal antibody treatment without a doctor’s prescription or referral from a qualified medical provider.
The problem is limited supplies. Many states are complaining about the limited supplies.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statement on Jan. 3 condemning the federal government for choking off the supply of monoclonal antibodies to Floridians and calling on the Biden Administration “to release its stranglehold on monoclonals and provide the state with additional doses to support new monoclonal antibody sites and expand treatment capacity of existing sites.”
The governor’s office issued a statement the following day saying the federal government, in response to his calls for more monoclonal antibody treatments, notified the state that the “planning process” for shipping 30,000 additional doses of monoclonal antibodies to Florida had begun. The state has opened new monoclonal treatment sites in Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Seminole counties.
There are no new sites within close driving range of Levy County. The Florida Department of Health website lists vaccination and monoclonal antibody treatment sites. The closest treatment site, other than UF, appears to be the Barnstorm Theater in the Villages in Sumter County. Visit the Department of Health website to confirm whether the site is still operating.
Wesley Asbell, spokesman for the Department of Health in Levy, Gilchrist, and Dixie counties, said the health department does not provide direct support to monoclonal antibody sites but “encourages antibody treatments.”
“The Governor has requested more antibody treatments from what I see in correspondence. We had the treatment site in Fanning Springs until the end of November. We had been on the waiting list forever and a day,” Asbell said.
Asbell said the Levy County Commission can request another antibody site through the Levy County Department of Emergency Management.
“However, the resources are very limited. I saw where there were 40 sites open last week but they were all in South Florida,” Asbell said. “The only sites I know of, are on the Florida Department of Health website. Where we would lay on the priority list I don’t know. Just based on our last experience, it would take some time to get one, if the resources were available.”
Asbell said by the time the Fanning Springs antibody site was opened, the number of positive cases had declined, and based on the lack of use, the site was closed.
Is the federal government slowing down the allocation to the state?
“That’s what we’re hearing from our folks in Tallahassee. The federal government is closely controlling the amount each state is given. I guess there’s a limited resource. The Governor is requesting more. Hopefully, we’ll get more sites,” Asbell said.
Asbell said he is aware of the rising numbers of positive COVID-19 virus cases throughout the county and the region.
“We ourselves have about 10 people out right now at three health departments, he said. “I’ve known numerous people who got boosted (received booster shots) and unfortunately still are getting sick. Now, most of them aren’t severe cases, but it is happening, we know it’s happening.
————–
Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt January 23, 2022; Posted January 23, 2022
