Buchanan says Manatee, Sarasota will benefit from coronavirus spending bill

Mar. 6--BRADENTON -- President Donald Trump has approved $8.3 billion in emergency spending to combat the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, a move that could benefit Manatee and Sarasota counties in the next week.

During a visit to Bradenton on Friday morning, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan said the money would help to develop vaccines, treatments and test kits. Florida's first COVID-19 cases -- affecting a man from Manatee County and a woman from Hillsborough County -- were both in Buchanan's congressional district.

"Hopefully in the next week or two we're going to see some of those benefits flowing down here," he said.

In the past week, Bradenton residents cleared stores of their masks and cleaning products, local universities warned against spring break travel, and Suncoast Blood Centers reported a significant drop in donations. Buchanan hopes the emergency funding will quell local fears.

Florida needs more testing to truly understand the local presence of coronavirus, Buchanan said. As new cases emerge and the flu season continues, people are eager to get tested and confirm the source of their coughs, sneezes and breathing issues.

Test kits are currently shipped to three laboratories run by the Florida Department of Health in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville. He said the emergency funding would help Florida process more samples from local hospitals.

"It's going to be huge in the next week or two," Buchanan said.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital announced that 14 preliminary tests came back negative for patients with unexplained respiratory issues. More tests were sure to come, according to a news release published on Thursday.

Specifics of the emergency funding were not immediately clear, according to a follow-up email from Buchanan's spokeswoman, Chloe Conboy. She was unsure how many testing kits would be sent to Florida, or how the $8.3 billion would be disbursed.

"We are confident that Florida will receive a large portion," she wrote. "We are one of the largest states and have some of earliest cases of the virus."

Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott touched on the emergency funding during a press conference in West Palm Beach. The state expected to receive about $27 million, with a portion going toward loans for small businesses hurt by the virus, according to the senators.

Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, answered questions after a roundtable discussion on the economy and local business, hosted at the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. He was joined by U.S. Rep Kevin Brady, R-Texas.

Brady is the lead Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes, health care, Social Security, Medicare, international trade and welfare.

He said the emergency funding was especially important in Florida, which has a large population of elderly residents and nursing homes.

"Today, you're seeing more discussion on how we accelerate the vaccines, the testing, the masks and all that goes with that," Brady said.

When it comes to the economy, long-term issues included a worker shortage and the race to out-innovate other countries, but COVID-19 posed an immediate threat, the lawmakers said.

The number of confirmed cases surpassed 100,000 around the world on Friday, renewing fears and causing a dip in both stocks and bond yields. Approximately 250 confirmed cases were in the United States, primarily in California and Washington state.

However, the actual number of cases remains unknown. The CDC provided faulty testing kits and stringent testing guidelines last month, slowing the response to COVID-19. New kits were developed, state laboratories began testing and the federal agency issued broader testing criteria this week, allowing more people to be screened.

Buchanan said he would push for testing at a local level, which would require test kits, training and new equipment at the hospitals in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

He also floated the idea of researching and developing a self-test kit, which could be sold at local drugstores.

"There's actually some talk about that in meetings I've been at," he said.

As of Friday, it was unclear how many test kits were inbound to Florida. According to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, the nation's public health labs could screen up to 75,000 people with available kits.

He provided the update on Friday morning, during a signing ceremony for the emergency funding bill.

"The remaining lots are arriving at CDC this morning for quality control, and should get out as we forecast this weekend, and then next week we'll keep ramping up production," he said. "So as many as 4 million tests next week are going to be driving forward."

In an announcement on Friday afternoon, the Manatee County Health Department announced a 24-7 hotline for residents who may have COVID-19. Concerned locals should call 941-242-6649 if they have relevant symptoms, exposure to a confirmed case of coronavirus, or a history of travel to high-risk countries.

Buchanan urged residents to focus on prevention by coughing into their sleeves, washing their hands and staying home when sick. Early research indicates that COVID-19 and the flu share common symptoms, and that most people can weather the virus with isolation and rest.

"We don't want everybody to be so fearful that it shuts down the airlines and the cruise lines and everything else, because that could very well happen," Buchanan concluded.

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