ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The second round of mobile coronavirus testing is set to start on Monday in Orange County.
These sites will be free to any Orange County resident who wants to get tested, regardless of whether they have symptoms or have had contact with a COVID-19 patient.
Appointments are required and only those 18 and older will be seen. They can be made by calling the DOH-Orange’s COVID-19 Call Center, which is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at 407-723-5004.
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Below are the upcoming dates and locations:
- Monday, April 27 (reschedule from April 24) – West Orange Park, 150 Windermere Road, Winter Garden
- Tuesday, April 28 – Apopka High School, 555 Martin Street, Apopka
- Wednesday, April 29 – Camping World Stadium, 1 Citrus Bowl Place, Orlando
- Thursday, April 30 – Barnett Park, 4801 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando
- Friday, May 1 - Jay Blanchard Park, 2451 N. Dean Road, Orlando
Three of the five sites -- Jay Blanchard Park, Camping World Stadium and Barnett Park -- served as testing sites this week. West Orange Park was supposed to be open Friday but testing there was delayed due to inclement weather.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said during a news conference last week testing is key to stop the spread of COVID-19.
"Our testing sites are increasing in number and I believe that increased availability of testing is a key weapon in our fight against the virus," Demings said.
The mayor also said there are plans to bring two more testing sites to the county's hot zones.
"The orange county health services division is working on getting two additional sites set up in our hot zones, in particular the 32822 and 32824 zip code areas for next week," Demings said.
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said during a news conference last week it appears the area is beyond the worst of the pandemic and that the peak happened during the week of March 23.
But he cautions even with a decrease in cases that does not mean the response is over.
"When you get out of the wide community distribution, the next thing to watch for us is small outbreaks and have the ability to detect those outbreaks when they're happening and have the ability to respond and contain those outbreaks. That will be the new effort that we have to engage," Pino said.
Pino defined a small outbreak as more than two cases that are linked and have a shared source of transmission.
As of Friday, Pino said four small outbreaks have been identified thus far: one at Orlando International Airport, one in Apopka and one in a long-term care facility. Pino did not have information readily available.
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