81º

Due to high demand, Orange County opening third COVID-19 testing site at old Clarcona Elementary School

Site will operate daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Due to high demand for coronavirus testing, Orange County is opening a third COVID-19 testing site.

The new site will open Tuesday at the former Clarcona Elementary School site, located at 3607 Damon Road in Apopka.

The free drive-thru testing site will run daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and in addition to the site already operating at Barnett Park and the other that recently opened at Econ Soccer Complex on Yates Road, and will offer rapid and PCR tests, according to county officials.

Leaders said thousands of people have been lining up at the sites looking to get tested daily.

[TRENDING: Florida averages 19,200+ daily cases as state breaks pandemic records | Parents sue DeSantis over mask mandate ban]

“We strongly suggest that you get to each of these sites before noon, as capacity is generally reached early afternoon,” county officials said during a news conference Monday.

As Florida continues to see a surge in COVID-19 cases, recently breaking records for both the daily number of new infections and hospitalizations, Orange County’s free testing sites have been forced to close early many afternoons after reaching capacity.

County officials also recently announced that the vaccination site at Barnett Park will soon be moved to Camping World Stadium in an effort to relieve some of the traffic at the site, which also offers testing.

“As you are well aware of, the past few weeks we have seen heightened demand for testing and it is causing long lines at Barnett Park,” a spokesperson for the county told News 6 of the move to Camping World Stadium. “We do not wish to deter any residents who are wanting to get the vaccine and thus are in the process of transitioning our vaccine location to better serve our residents.”

Additional details for free testing sites in Orange County can be found below or by visiting ocfl.net/testing.

To keep up with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6′s coronavirus newsletter and go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.


Recommended Videos