Officials Debunk DeSantis’ Claim That Half of Workers Tested at Orlando Airport Have Coronavirus
BUNGLED
After Florida hit a record for new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced another shocking development: 260 out of 500 workers tested for the virus at the Orlando International Airport came back positive, a staggering 52 percent positivity rate. When a handful of cases emerged at the airport, the facility used contract tracing to identify about 500 people working close together, DeSantis said.
However, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority CEO Phil Brown explained the data on Wednesday, and it seems that DeSantis bungled the stats. Of the 500 people tested last week, only two came back positive—a 0.4 percent positivity rate. Since the pandemic began in mid-March, the airport has reported 260 positive cases, comprising 132 airport staff (0.6 percent of the airport’s 22,000 workers) and 128 non-employees who had contact with the infected staff.
More than 2,780 new cases of the virus were reported in Florida on Tuesday. Statewide, there is a 5.5 percent positivity rate, and this rate has been going up since May 17.