TAMPA, Fla. — Florida has repeatedly beat its own records for daily COVID-19 cases. With a spike in cases, there is a spike in demand for testing. Over the weekend, Hillsborough County opened two testing sites.
On the first day open, more than 2,000 people were administered tests between the two sites.
The sites, located at the Palm River Park Community Center and the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement Building are operating 7 days a week from 9-5. Tests are free and you're asked to bring a photo ID, health insurance cards if you have them, and wear a mask.
Justin Thomas, one of the people who got tested for COVID, said he recently got his first dose of the Moderna vaccine, then began experiencing symptoms that weren't typical for vaccines.
"I got vaccinated Friday," said Thomas. "So I was feeling sore, so I attributed that to the vaccine. Then I woke up coughing this morning."
Thomas said he used to be against getting vaccinated.
Then his coworkers died.
"Like, at my job, we've already had 2 employees die of COVID in the past two weeks," he said. "I was against getting the vaccine for the longest time, but when they passed, I was like-- 'I need to get the vaccine.'"
Thomas told 10 Tampa Bay that after watching reports of how the delta variant of COVID-19 impacted people his age, 33, he didn't want to wait on getting his shot any longer.
"Just how dangerous the delta strain was," said Thomas. "That even young people are dying that are healthy. It doesn't discriminate"
According to the CDC, the delta variant accounts for nearly 86 percent of COVID-19 cases in Florida's region and it's twice as contagious. These facts have encouraged unvaccinated and vaccinated people to take the pandemic seriously.
"I think if it hadn't been for the conversation around the delta variant, I wouldn't have gotten tested," said Laura Pereira. Pereira is fully vaccinated and thought she was experiencing a common cold.
"But this morning I woke up and didn't have any sense of taste," she said. "I just think I'm hearing more and more of people that have the vaccine that is testing positive. I know they don't have serious symptoms, but you don't want to be the person that thinks you have a cold and is sharing covid with everyone that's not vaccinated."
If you'd also rather play it safe than sorry, county officials say the Hillsborough County testing sites will not run out of swab kits. While wait times have been as long as 90 minutes, staff will continue to administer tests until doors close each night at 5 p.m.