Coronavirus Drive-Thru Testing Underway At Marlins Park
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Drive-thru testing for coronavirus got underway Wednesday at Marlins Park.
The drive-through testing center is for Miami-Dade County residents aged 65 or older with symptoms.
Testing is by appointment only.
Officials said Wednesday morning that they had reached capacity for Thursday appointments and they will not be accepting any more appointments. Seniors wanting to be tested will need to call on Thursday to schedule a test on Friday.
Those interested in getting tested should call (305) 499-8767 where they will be pre-screened.
The test site is on the west side of Marlins Park, 501 Marlins Way.
Only those with appointments will be tested. The person being tested may arrive at the drive-through location with only one other person in the car. That person will also be tested to make sure there has been no spread of the virus.
The call center will open daily at 9 a.m. and will remain open until all appointment slots for the next day have been filled. For now, daily testing is available at this site for 300 people.
The City of Miami plans to open two new testing sites. One will be at Charles Hadley Park and city leaders say another may be near Marlins Park.
The City of Miami is also helping seniors who can't make it to a drive-thru testing site and who may also have symptoms. The City of Miami Fire Rescue says it can go to their homes and test them..
"Once they go through the screening process, we will go out there and screen them there and we will bring that sample back to the lab and send it off to the lab, provide testing for that, give them the results," Miami Chief Joseph Zahralban.
There's no clear timeline on when and if the testing sites will open to other age groups. County leaders admit its impossible to test everyone in the county who would like to be tested. That's why they're stressing social distancing.
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