Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the first week of an ongoing study by the University of Florida in The Villages found no cases of coronavirus among test subjects without symptoms.
UF Health has teamed up with The Villages and the state for a drive-through testing site at the polo field. Researchers are doing two types of tests: clinical tests for people with symptoms and research tests for volunteers without symptoms.
They hope to determine whether older people are likely to carry the virus without getting sick.
“The first week they did 600 random samples from people in The Villages who were asymptomatic,” DeSantis said Saturday evening. “And the good news on this is that zero came back COVID-19 positive. … This gives us a little window into how this may have spread or not have spread in a community, you know, where you have a lot of folks who are, who are over 60.”
Researchers planned to do 2,000 tests in the first two weeks.
Meanwhile, The Villages — along with Sumter, Lake and Marion counties — has seen a sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, the Villages itself had 35 cases (33 in Sumter and 2 in Lake). Sumter had 40 cases, Lake 34, and Marion 17.
People can sign up for the Villages testing at ufhealthcovid.com. The limited spots become available at 8 a.m. for the following day.
