State officials respond to Coronavirus

We now know Florida's first two cases of the Coronavirus are patients in the Tampa Bay area.

But as that news surfaces, so are questions surrounding the timeline of when our state's top leaders made that information public.

UNTIL DAYLIGHT.LET’S BRING TRENT IN NOW TO GOOVER WHAT HAPPENED... TRENT?RIGHT NOW, FLORIDA IS UNDER ASTATE OF EMERGENCY, BECAUSE OFTWO CASES OF THE CORONAVIRUSNEAR TAMPA.AND THE GOVERNOR SAYS-- MORECASES COULD BE COMING.[Notes::21-:29]Gov.

RonDeSantis: "We do anticipate tosee more positive cases in thestate of Florida, and we havetaken additional actions to helpcontain the virus’s spread."THE HEALTH POLICY VICE CHAIRSAYS BECAUSE WE ARE IN SESSIONRIGHT NOW, IF THE CASES OFCO-VID19 GET WORSE-- LEGISLATORSWILL MOVE FAST FILING POLICY ORPUSHING FORWARD FUNDING TO HELP.[Notes::21-:29] "We were insession when the StonemanDouglas event happened.

We wereable to respond really quickly.I’m hoping the same thing willhappen with Coronavirus."A SENATOR FROM MIAMI HAS FILED ANEW BILL AMENDMENT REQUIRING THESTATE, DURING AN INFECTIOUSOUTBREAK, TO DISCLOSE HOW MANYPEOPLE ARE BEING TESTED AND INWHAT COUNTIES.HE FILED THAT BILL, BECAUSELAWMAKERS COULDN’T GET THATINFORMATION OUT OF GOVERNORDESANTIS LAST WEEK.JESSICA ALPERN IS HERE, TALKINGABOUT THE QUESTIONS ON THETIMELINE OF WHEN OUR STATE’S TOPLEADERS... TOLD US ABOUT THECORONAVIRUS HERE IN FLORIDA.DURING A NEWS CONFERENCE, IT WASREVEALED THAT STATE LEADERS KNEWABOUT THESE CASES A FULL DAYBEFORE INFORMING THE PUBLIC.THEY SAY THE PATIENTS WEREPRESUMED TO HAVE TESTED POSITIVESATURDAY EVENING... BUT THEPUBLIC DIDN’T FIND OUT UNTILSUNDAY NIGHT JUST AFTER 9-30.THAT UPDATE COMING A FULL DAYLATER THROUGH THE GOVERNOR’SEXECUTIVE ORDER DECLARING ASTATE OF EMERGENCY OVER THECORONAVIRUS.STATE LEADERS SAY ONCE THEYBELIEVE A PATIENT HAS TESTEDPOSITIVE IN THE STATE LAB,THEY’RE REQUIRED TO SEND SAMPLESTO THE C-D-C TO CONFIRM.THEY SAY THE PATIENTS WEREIMMEDIATELY CONTAINED ANDEVALUATED.BUT WHILE THE STATE’S TOP DOCTORDENIED ANY ISSUES WITHTRANSPARENCY, SOME FLORIDASENATORS AGREE THE PUBLICDESERVES MORE.we’ve always been veryproactive about letting thepublic know that this was comingand how to prepare yourselvesBUTT TOSOT:I think moving forward we can’twait 24 hours, the publicdeserves to know what’shappening in their state.BOTH FLORIDA PATIENTS REMAINSTABLE AND ISOLATED FROM THEPUBLIC.STATE LEADERS TELL OUR SISTERSTATION IN TAMPA THAT WHIL