ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — As the demand for COVID-19 testing slows down at testing sites, the Orange County Department of Health is taking a new proactive approach to stop the spread of the virus.
Dr. Raul Pino, the Orange County health officer, said the department is moving its tactical units into outbreak situations.
"The idea is to find as many asymptomatic people as possible before they freely transmit,” Pino said.
Instead of just waiting for people to show up at the test sites, health department staff members are going out into the community and testing people in the areas with the highest number of cases.
They are then moving in tactical units called strike teams to these outbreaks.
Cases of COVID-19 have been slowly on the rise in Orange County, but Pino said he's not worried about it because there are a few contributing factors.
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"Probably part of our increase in the numbers is part of our active approach,” Pino said. “Our approach to actively look for positive cases."
Recently, at an unnamed mattress factory, the team tested 300 people and 77 were positive, a very high percentage compared to the rest of the community.
"We believe that asymptomatic people are having a bigger role than initially thought,” Pino said. “And the data is proving that approach right now."
Pino said another contributing factor is antibody tests. People who are tested positive for antibodies are now being added into the daily new case numbers even though those people are already over the virus.
“We are not sitting on our hands,” Pino said. “We are going after the places we think we can find the most cases because the more we find, the more we are likely to prevent.”
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