we knew about omicron. and yet the tests were not distributed. it is so shameful people are waiting hours and hours for testing. they are not getting them. about a million tests were expired in the state warehouse. since you mentioned him, i want to get your reaction to what the florida surgeon general said this week. listen. we are going to be working to unwind the sort of testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to unfortunately get most of the country in over the last two years. we need to unwind the testing sort of planning and living one s life around testing. without it we are going to be stuck in the same cycle. what is he talking about.
with this story. tell us what this means, leyla. reporter: all right. brianna, here is how he is explaining high value versus low value testing. he s saying, this is about prioritizing. the example he used is it is of more value to test, say, a grandmother than an 8-year-old, a third grader that is getting weekly testing. so he wants to put out more guidance that emphasizing that. and then after he explained that in a press conference yesterday, he says he also wants to unwind testing psychology coming from the federal government. listen. we re going to be working to unwind the sort of testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to, unfortunately, get most of the country in over the last two years. we need to unwind this testing sort of planning and living
that people can go to, where we have staff in beds to treat them. and doctor, you mentioned a moment ago, and maybe up to the states. of course, a lot of those states are red states, run by republican governors. florida, for example. covid s number one ally. i want you to take a listen to your former medical school classmate, joseph leitao, who somehow ended up as surgeon general florida. we are going to be taking to and wind the testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to, unfortunately, get most of the country in, over the last two years. no need for testing. standing at a podium this is early treatment saves lives. you tweeted that you are speechless when you heard about his anti-science stance on testing. i have to ask, how do you complete meta school. was he there in class? i m still speechless. my mind is blown every time i
public school task force. i m asking you what you and your team have been seeing from omicron. i want to play what the florida surgeon general said today about testing. we are going to be working towne wind the sort of testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to unfortunately get most of the country in over the last two years. we need towne unwind the testin and planning of everyone s life around testing. it s time for people to be living and to make the decisions they want. regarding vaccination. and to, enisjoy that many peopl have natural immunity. a test for your grandmother is more valuable than weekly tests for third graders, what do you make of his comments? well the problem is, it s, it
related to mitigating this pandemic. typically when it comes to testing. and so i don t know if you know this, but back in may, they shut down all the state-run testing sites and now floridians are having to wait hours just to get a test done and then wait days to get the result after that. you know, again, it s a fundamental dereliction of duty and rather than address that issue, they re saying that testing is unnecessary now, which couldn t be further from the truth. let me very quickly play the surgeon general saying that and actually making it sound like testing is just some sort of psychological, you know, tick. here it is. we re going to be working to unwind the sort of testing psychology that our federal leadership has managed to, unfortunately, get most of the country in over the last two years. we need to unwind this testing sort of planning and living one s life around testing.