SARASOTA- COVID-19 Testing sites see a sharp increase in people before the Thanksgiving Holiday, but a negative test shouldn’t be the only thing you use to make sure your Thanksgiving is a safe one.
Before Janet Shanks and her family sat down for Thanksgiving dinner after traveling, they stopped by to get tested.
“My sister would be at risk and my brother in law is also at risk,” Janet Shanks said. “And we’re supposed to stay with them through the weekend so we didn’t want to take any chances. We just wanted to be safe.”
They aren’t the only ones. Sarasota County Department of Health says they’ve seen a noticeable increase in testing.
“Which in my opinion is a good thing,” Disease Intervention Specialist Michael Drennon said. “It means people are getting tested before spending time with their families, and hopefully are making the right decisions and taking the appropriate precautions based on those results.”
But the Health Department is stressing to not just focus on those results.
“The problem is if they are negative,” Michael Drennon said. “Just because they are negative, doesn’t mean they couldn’t be incubating the disease, it just means they currently are not actively ill.”
So, it’s important people take additional precautions as they sit down for their meal.
“Wearing a mask when not eating or drinking,” Drennon said. “Social distancing to the best of their abilities, and really practicing good hand hygiene.”
For the Shanks those extra precautions include moving the big meal outside.
“We want to see the family but we want to keep them safe too,” Richard Shanks said. “So, it will be different eating outside, but it will still be fun.”
“We also appreciated that they offered this free testing and it was a reasonable amount of time,” Janet Shanks said. “They already got their results back.”
“I’m Negative,” Richard Shanks said.
If you are going to be around family this Thanksgiving, the Florida Health Department says it could be a good idea to get tested again 4-5 days after you finish the meal.