'I Think It's Great', Mayor Carlos Gimenez On Five New Pop Up Coronavirus Test Sites That Opened Friday
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Four out of five new temporary coronavirus drive-thru test sites opened Friday. with one site delayed until Saturday.
The drive-thru testing site locations are:
- Dillard High School, 2501 NW 11th Street, Fort Lauderdale.
- Blanche Ely High School, 1201 NW 6th Avenue, Pompano Beach.
- MacArthur High School, 6501 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood.
- Miami Jackson High School, 1751 NW 36th Street, Miami. (delayed due to standing water. Will open Saturday)
- Miami-Dade Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler Street, Miami.
All five sites are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily and will test individuals five-years-old and older, regardless of symptoms.
The tests are free, with or without insurance.
The five sites offer appointments with online registration. To make an appointment, go to DoINeedACovid19Test.com. Appointments and online registration are recommended.
"You should register and it will expedite the process of the registration and the testing. So if you have registered the average wait time is 15 minutes. By adding these 5 test sites it'll help the process here where there are high number of cases in South Florida and give us important information on positive test results in this area," explained site spokesman and Key Biscayne Deputy Fire Chief to CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
"The biggest thing we are encountering is that there are 3 different generations in home," he said. You have children, their parents and grandparents and there is concern about the older residents. So what's happening is people are not social distancing at homes. So if someone in the home gets sick, they transmit it to everyone in the household so it's important that everyone in the household practice social distancing as much as they can and make sure they wash their hands in the home."
Individuals will be provided with information on how to receive results once they are tested. Testing is available to all Florida residents, regardless of the county they live in.
"I think it's great. We call them pop-ups for a reason. Two days ago they were not there. Now we have an additional test capacity of 2,000 tests a day in Miami-Dade and the more tests the better," said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Gimenez said the county plans to add even more test sites.
"We are continuing to add more sites in Miami-Dade. Also, we want to do test sites that go into the night because we know that people can't get to test site in the daytime," he said.
The mayor added that he also wants to enable people to get test results sooner, strengthen the effectiveness of contact tracing, and beef up testing.
"The more testing we can do, the more we can find out who is infected and the more residents will know about preventative measures and how not to pass on the virus to somebody else or loved ones. We know a lot of this happens in the home. So we can do better," said Gimenez.
Wearing a facial covering, social distancing, and proper handwashing are critical, he added.
"The Surgeon General yesterday made it very clear with his message, not only here by nationwide, that wearing a mask is the most effective way to drive this infection down and lessen the level of infection," said Gimenez. "It's our civil responsibility to protect each other. It is a symbol of respect when I wear a mask. I am telling you that I respect you. When I wear the mask I protect myself and protect you from me."
Gimenez said he's hopeful about the future.
"The good news is that we are seeing a leveling off of the positivity rates and they are coming down so let's keep it up," he said.
The five federally funded drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites will close on Sunday, August 2 at 6 p.m.
The Miami Jackson High School site did not open as scheduled on Friday due to standing water. It will open on Saturday and all appointments for Friday will have to be rescheduled.
