POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – No car, no problem. Two walk-up coronavirus testing sites have been launched in Broward County to serve people unable to go to the drive-thru sites.
The first new testing location at Mitchell Moore Park in Pompano Beach (901 NW 10th St.) opened Friday, and another at the Urban League of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale (560 NW 27th Ave.) opened Saturday.
The sites are near county bus stops, and each will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (The Pompano site will be closed on Thursdays, and the Fort Lauderdale site will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.)
“Not everybody is going to have access to be able to go to a drive-in site,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Friday morning at the Urban League. “Maybe it’s just too far away from where you live. Maybe you don’t have reliable ground transportation. And so we wanted to see where were some of the gaps in testing access, and see if we as the state of Florida could help to try to fill those.”
A steady stream of people was already being tested by members of the National Guard at the Pompano Beach site Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, a long line had already formed ahead of the opening at the Fort Lauderdale location.
DeSantis said he is hoping to also implement walk-up testing at sites in Miami-Dade County after getting the Broward locations going.
Patients will be given a face covering when arriving to the sites if they don’t have one, and they will be kept 6 feet apart while waiting to be tested.
Anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms can walk up to the site to receive a test, though appointments are preferred and can be set up by calling (954) 412-7300.
“If you have COVID-19 symptoms you can walk up to the site,” DeSantis said. “You can walk up to receive a test or you can set up an appointment to be tested.”
Each site will conduct 200 tests a day for the time being.
Long lines have met people wanting to be tested at some of the drive-thru sites in Broward and MIami-Dade this week after they relaxed the requirements on age and exposure to the virus.
At Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens they’re now able to test 750 people per day, but long waits have caused some cars to run out of gas.
For a map and more information about other COVID-19 testing sites in the area, click here.