ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – COVID-19 cases are on the decline in Florida and so are the number of people getting tested in Orange County.
Some sites are administering less than 1,000 tests a day.
A couple of weeks ago, getting tested for COVID-19 was a challenge for many people.
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“We’ve seen some of the lines for testing and we just think it is necessary to have more sites,” Sen. Randolph Bracy said.
Lines were extremely long at testing sites forcing people to wait hours for a swab. Finding at-home rapid tests at drug stores was also difficult.
Orlando city officials recognized the rush and need for testing. The city opened an additional testing site at Camping World Stadium to ease traffic at the three sites administered by Orange County.
County officials shared the weekly testing data at the three Orange County sites in the chart below.
At Camping World Stadium, officials said 4,000 people total were tested between Monday and Thursday.
Although testing sites are seeing a downward trend, Bracy said communities still need more resources.
“There are other resources for people to get tested, but I think we just need to make it as convenient as possible so that there are no waits for people so they can get tested pretty easily,” he said.
Bracy plans to open a new testing site in west Orlando Sunday morning.
He said Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “refusal” to reopen state-sponsored testing sites was the catalyst.
“I think it was irresponsible, I think it was important for people to have the resources to be tested,” he said.
He also encourages those who are asymptomatic or have not knowingly been exposed to COVID-19 to practice routine testing.
“I definitely think it can slow the spread but again I think we should be vaccinated first and foremost because studies have shown that’s the best protection against the virus,” Bracy said.
The new site opens at Village Square at 927 S. Goldwyn Avenue.
It will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Bracy said eventually he plans to make vaccines available at the site as well.