BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) — Pinellas County will have its own monoclonal antibody treatment site opening up this Sunday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday during a press conference in Bonita Springs.
In a previous announcement, the Tampa Bay Rays said a treatment site will be located at Tropicana Field.
DeSantis also announced a new site in Manatee County, but he did not give a time for that site’s opening during the conference.
The governor has been making the rounds across the state of Florida promoting the Regeneron treatment, saying early treatment could help prevent COVID-19 positive people from developing symptoms that could land them in the hospital.
DeSantis said in total, Florida will have 21 testing sites that will be able to treat 300 to 320 people, providing the antibodies to 6,720 Floridians a day at no cost. However, he said these sites can expand their capacity if needed.
Regeneron first gained popularity after then-President Donald Trump received the treatment after contracting COVID-19 and having to be taken to a hospital for treatment. This spurred a boost in enrollment in the trials at Tampa General Hospital.
Fast forward nearly a year later, DeSantis is urging people to get both the vaccine and the antibody treatment if necessary to prevent hospitalizations, now that herd immunity could no longer be viable due to the delta variant.
