SARASOTA COUNTY (WSNN) – Hundreds of people take advantage of the walk-up testing site that opened this weekend.
Florida is breaking records in COVID cases and hospitalizations. The demand for testing is high on the Suncoast. So, the city of Sarasota partnered with Lab Services to host a free walk-up COVID-19 testing clinic at the Robert L Taylor Community Complex, Saturday. No appointments were required.
“We’ve heard about the really long waits at the dog track, so we wanted to help the community,” President/CEO of Lab Services Michael Fitch said.
The CDC reports Florida is having high levels of community transmission because of the highly contagious Delta variant.
“We gotta be careful with what we’re doing and staying on top of it,” Fitch said. “It’s a much more infectious disease and much more serious.”
More than 300 people got tested. Some came out of precaution …
“One of my roommate tested positive for COVID,” Aiden Clore said. “I’m fully vaccinated, but I just wanted to be safe.”
Others got tested ahead of the start of the school year here in Sarasota County.
“It is great,” middle-schooler Ryniah Milner said. “We need to be safe,” middle-schooler Dajahane Hawks added. “Poor families out here maybe can’t afford it. And thank God it’s free.”
The site offered PCR and rapid tests.
“We get those results usually in 24, no later than 48 hours. It’s 99.8-percent accurate,” Fitch said.
The rapid test is 70 to 80-percent accurate, but you get results in about 20 minutes. A smooth and quick process for many.
“Not that long, literally two minutes,” Milner said.
You get your results texted and/or emailed to you.
The Florida Department of Health of Sarasota County is hosting two walk-up testing sites starting Monday. One is at the Robert L. Taylor Community Center in Sarasota and the other at Dallas White Park in North Port. Both go from 9 am to 5 pm.
