Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday the state is getting another 30,000 vials of remdesivir, a life-saving medication to help treat COVID-19 patients rapidly filling hospital beds.
The medicine will be shipped directly to hospitals in the next 48 to 72 hours, he said during a discussion with physicians in St. Augustine. The shipment should treat about 5,000 patients.
Florida hospitals say they are in desperate need of the drug, which many experts say has reduced the illness severity and mortality of some patients with COVID-19.
The state reports that Florida hospitals are treating more than 9,000 patients for the coronavirus. Overall, there have been nearly 338,000 cases resulting in more than 5,000 deaths.
On Saturday, the state reported more than 10,000 new confirmed cases of the virus and 90 additional deaths.
