NBC2 FALSELY Leads Readers to Believe FDA Decision to Extend FL COVID Tests Caused by Nikki Fried

January 14, 2021 Updated 3:56 P.M. ET

FORT MYERS (FCV) – After FCV covered and debunked Dave Elias’ false NBC2 report espousing the fake Nikki Fried claim that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “found” 1 million expired COVID-19 tests in a “warehouse” that were ‘allowed’ to expire, NBC2 published a misleading headline covering the extension.

A Tallahassee source told FCV that Florida has been pressuring for the BinaxNOW renewal for months – since fall, when the Delta variant was dominant.

Additionally, according to the letter, the conversation to renew the BinaxNOW COVID-19 tests dates back to December 23, 2021 and January 3, 2022, at the latest.

However, the misleading report piggy-backing off of a Nikki Fried press conference from Dave Elias at NBC2 was originally reported on January 5, published well after renewal talks began.

On Facebook, NBC2 frames the story to lead readers to believe that the extension was because of Nikki Fried and Dave Elias’ misleading report, but the chronological timeline of events does not support that notion.

NBC2 covered the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement to extend the shelf-life of BinaxNOW COVID-19 testing kits by several months. They frame the story by saying that the shelf-life was extended, “after Governor DeSantis admitted state officials found the unused tests in a warehouse.”

In the report itself, NBC2 says, “It was democratic candidate for governor Nikki Fried who announced publicly last week there was a stockpile of tests the state had in its possession that had expired at the end of December.”

Readers of NBC2 would be lead to believe that, in effect, Dave Elias and Nikki Fried caused Florida to obtain renewal. In reality, the tests have been extended several times, and late-December, the time of their latest expiration date, was no different.

On NBC2’s Facebook post, stark backlash and criticism can be seen in the comments.