TAMPA, Fla. — All state run, drive-thru and walk-up COVID-19 testing sites are temporarily closing Thursday at 5 p.m. because of anticipation of impacts of Tropical Storm Isaias.
So what does that mean for testing in our state?
We use a 14-day average to track cases.
Dr. Jill Roberts, an infectious disease specialist at USF College of public health, says this could mess up our percent positives and we won't get a true number of what the cases look like.
“If suddenly our percent positivity in Hillsborough County drops to 3%, where it's staying right around 12 percent, we know it's an artifact in the data and it will probably bounce back up again.”
So we wanted to know how many tests are conducted per day at the state test sites to get a better understanding of how the closure could impact our tracking of trends with the virus.
There are 60 state run sites in Florida and 10 of them are in the Tampa Bay area.
State Emergency Management provided the average daily test numbers per site to date.
Hillsborough County:
- Lee Davis Community Resource Center -254
- SouthShore Community Resource Center - 203
- Raymond James Stadium - 784
Manatee County:
- Lincoln Park -283
- Home Depot 2350 Cortez Road Bradenton, FL 34207 -175
Pasco County:
- Home Depot 1315 U.S. Highway 19 Holiday, Florida 34691 - 200
Pinellas County
- Duke Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theatre - 716
Polk County
- Publix at Imperial Lakes Plaza -130
Sarasota County
- Robert L. Taylor Community Center -247
- University Town Center – 635
That’s approximately 3,627 tests conducted per day at the state runs site in the Bay area.
For comparison, the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando is the largest state testing site.
Yesterday, 1,179 swab tests and 252 self-swab tests were conducted. To date, they’ve conducted a total of 92,387 swab tests and 16,133 antibody tests and average 200 tests per hour at the single location.
State test sites are not the only options for testing. Many local DOH sites will be open even though the state sites are closed. People are encouraged to contact their local DOH about testing options in their area.
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