Jeffrey Schweers

USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau

As the state continues to ramp up testing for the coronavirus, the number of positive results is going up and officials are running into a problem — a shortage of swabs and other supplies to collect samples.

The number of newly diagnosed cases in Florida jumped dramatically overnight Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon by more than 100 — to 328 from 216 — the day after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced an aggressive push for more testing across the state.

"My No. 1 priority is more robust testing," DeSantis said at a Wednesday news conference at the state's Emergency Operations Center, where he acknowledged that community spread was evident in Broward and Miami

There's been a big change in testing since Feb. 22, when the state started processing tests at its three labs, he added. And it's an even bigger increase since private labs started picking up the slack on March 8.

"There has been a pretty significant increase over a week ago," DeSantis told reporters.

Although he praised efforts to ramp up testing, he said he believed enough wasn't being done to uncover those who are walking around with COVID-19 but are aysmptomatic.

"If we could just expand the testing we could one answer lot of questions," he said.

As drive-through testing proliferates throughout the state, there will be more spikes in cases testing positive. The state has distributed 2,500 kits capable of processing 625,000 samples, which raises another huge supply issue, DeSantis said.

"We've put in an order for half-a-million swabs. We haven't gotten that fulfilled," he said. "If we have enough swabs, you can swab people. The rest can be sent to Quest and LabCorp. A huge supply of swabs can let us ramp up the number of tests we can give quickly."

Most of that 53% increase in new cases appeared in South Florida, where the testing has been most robust. The state lab in Miami was responsible for the highest number of tests, followed by LabCorp in Jacksonville and Tampa.

Broward reported 80 cases altogether, up from 55 last night. Miami-Dade cases are up to 76, up from 43 yesterday. And Palm Beach County reported 19 cases, up from 9. Hillsborough, Collier and Duval counties each had 13 cases.

The Department of Health also reported two new deaths, bringing the total to 8.

The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) issued mandatory regulations for any worker in a nursing home serving the elderly, DeSantis said, not just medical workers but food prep people, too.

Two of the most recent deaths were at nursing homes: One in Broward and a second in Clay County. Over 19 facilities have had either a suspected case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, or a handful of confirmed cases, said AHCA Secretary Mary Mayhew.

The increases were posted the day after DeSantis ordered bars and nightclubs in Florida closed for 30 days, told restaurants to cut capacity in half and encouraged patrons to order takeout. He also handed down restrictions on beach crowds.

Tuesday afternoon, DeSantis told reporters that progress was being made on the mobile testing center at Memorial Regional Hospital in Broward, which has enlisted several hundred members of the Florida National Guard to assist.

He gave a progress report on the mobile unit at Wednesday's news conference, expecting it to be up and running by the end of the week. It should be able to collect 200-300 samples a day.

Seventeen sites are currently in operation or soon will be throughout the state, DeSantis said, including Tallahassee, The Villages, Clearwater, Fort Myers, St. Peteresburg, Valrico, Stuart, Jacksonville and Pensacola.

"These are great steps in the right direction to expand testing," he said.

The latest:

The state has seen a surge in testing by private labs, with LabCorp responsible for the second most number of tests behind the Miami-Dade Department of Health lab.

He spent Tuesday night conferring by phone with the CEOs of several hospitals and healthcare organizations, including Tampa General's John Couris, Jackson Health System's Carlos Migoya, UF Shands' Ed Jiminez, Halifax Hospital's Jeff Feasel and Orlando Health's David Strong.

DeSantis had an equally busy morning Wednesday, with calls to county sheriffs and hospital chiefs, faith-based groups and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

A lot of the talk with Esper had to do with supply and demand, DeSantis said: "He wants to be helpful, but I am not the only governor asking for the same (personal protective equipment) and swabs."

Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz has been overseeing the deployment of mobile testing units throughout the state, and has asked the federal government for five mobile intensive care units to be deployed where needed.

"Last week the story was not enough test kits. Now it's not enough collection kits," Moskowitz said.

He also has asked for 2 million N95 face masks, 5,000 ventilators, 5,000 hospital beds, 250,000 coveralls, 500,000 gloves, 500,000 gowns, 500,000 collection kits, and 150,000 personal protection kits, which include coveralls, gowns and goggles.

Florida, the third largest state, is competing with the federal government and other states for supplies.

"California has the fifth largest economy in the world and this is a global issue," Moskowitz said. "The Feds are looking at what our actual need is based on what we ordered and our need on the ground."

A package arrived in Jacksonville to set up for the megasite there at TIAA Bank Stadium, and he expects more supplies to be delivered on a rolling basis.

Moskowitz also announced that three field hospitals are being deployed: One in Orlando to go where needed, one in Broward and one in Ocala. Moskowitz also is trying to see if he can get U.S. Navy hospital ships at Florida ports.

Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare has set up a mobile testing unit at the Northwood Mall and has already seen its first patients come through.

Contact Jeff Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.

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