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Doctors at area hospital continue preparing for potential coronavirus outbreak

Florida’s surgeon general is looking to start lab testing for the coronavirus in three cities across the state, and Jacksonville is one of them.

Right now, Florida doesn’t have any working test kits so concerned patients have to go to Atlanta to be tested. Doctors at UF Health Jacksonville say they’re ready if the hospital starts taking on potential patients.

“We routinely test ourselves against this,” says Chad Nielson with the infection control department. “We do simulations. We do readiness exercises. We are ready to handle one of these patients.”

He says they have an area where a patient could be quarantined, and they’ve taken every precaution to make sure the virus won’t spread from the patient to the lab to the general public.

“It’s very safe and there are a lot of structures in place,” he says.

Florida did receive some test kits, but there was a problem with them so they were pulled. If more come, Nielson says they’ll be ready at UF Health Jacksonville.

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