Florida Gov. Florida Gov.This image can be enlarged by clicking the toggle caption Marta Lavandier/AP Marta Lavandier/APFlorida has launched a mobile unit that administers monoclonal antibodies to coronavirus victims. Ron DeSantis made the announcement.Because of record numbers of coronavirus cases in Florida, officials are increasing the availability of these treatments.DeSantis stated during a Thursday news conference that "there are clear benefits to this earlier treatment for keeping patients out of the hospital, and reducing mortality."Patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 can use monoclonal antibodies to control the virus by mimicking their body's immune defenses. For those with more severe symptoms, or who are already hospitalized, the treatment is not effective.Officials said that the treatment is available to both vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals who have been infected.When he contracted coronavirus last autumn, former President Donald Trump was treated with Regeneron's monoclonal antibodies.Some states have not been able to make this treatment more widely accessible because it requires an intravenous injection that can take as long as an hour and may require medical staff who are already overworked.DeSantis mentioned that monoclonal antibodies treatments might not be as well-known against COVID-19, because they were granted emergency authorization at the same time as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.Florida will offer monoclonal antibodies treatments in other areas of the state. It will also send "strike team" to long-term care facilities, where it will offer the treatment to residents who are older.In recent weeks, the state has been a hotbed for new COVID-19 cases as the highly contagious Delta variant has seen transmission rates explode.DeSantis, however, has refused to force students to wear masks, even though many are younger than 12 years old and therefore ineligible for the vaccine. Although he threatened to withhold funding from school districts that do not allow parents to choose whether their children wear masks during the school year, several counties have resisted this threat and either kept their existing mask requirements or added new ones.
