ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County is resuming COVID-19 vaccinations at Barnett Park after moving the service to Camping World Stadium due to high testing demand two months ago.
Sandra Scott and her mother were some of the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine at Barnett Park on Saturday. Scott said she almost missed the news about the move back to the park.
“I looked on my phone and it says no more at Camping World, now at Barnett Park, so I turned around,” Scott said.
County leaders announced they are bringing vaccinations back to the site after moving the shots to Camping World Stadium in August. At the time, officials said Barnett Park was seeing long lines for testing and reaching daily capacity. Officials added they wanted to free up traffic at the park and not deter people from getting the vaccine.
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This comes as Florida is showing signs of improvement. According to the latest COVID-19 update from the Florida Department of Health, the state reported 25,792 new cases on Friday that occurred during the past week, bringing the state’s overall total to 3,601,755 cases since the virus was first detected on March 1, 2020. That’s an average of 3,684 new infections reported per day.
The state’s positivity rate is also down to 4.8%, which is the lowest it’s been since late June.
With the change back to Barnett Park came some confusion. News 6 saw vehicles try to navigate the testing and vaccinations lines.
“I was in the back of the line down there and he [a site worker] had to come and pull me out of the line,” Scott said.
Despite the decrease in cases, Scott and her mother said they are not taking chances. They add they’re grateful they could get their booster shots at the county’s main vaccination site.
“We’re older people and too much of it is going around here and too many people not wearing their masks and we have to protect ourselves since they won’t protect us,” she said.
Barnett Park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for vaccinations and COVID testing. The county is also offering COVID testing only at the Econ Soccer Complex daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The last day of COVID testing at the former site of Clarcona Elementary School will be Sunday, Oct. 10.