MIAMI, Fla. – In response to the surge in cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, five federally funded testing sites are now open. Anyone ages five and older can get a test for free, regardless of symptoms.
Two of the sites are in Miami-Dade and three are in Broward County.
In Miami, the site at Miami Jackson Senior High School opened its gates at 8 a.m. Saturday.
The other is at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium along Flagler Street.
In Broward, sites are at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach and McArthur High School in Hollywood.
Appointments are recommended and can be made by going to the website by clicking here. Look for “Florida” under locations.
All of the sites are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily up until Aug. 2. Testing is free.
The hope is that the extra sites will cut down on wait times at some of the other testing locations that have seen people in line for hours.
This in response to positive case numbers exploding in Miami-Dade County, which is Florida’s hotspot. On Saturday, numbers hit a grim milestone of surpassing 100,000 cases since the pandemic began with more than 3,400 additional positive cases reported within the past 24 hours in the county.
The mayor of Miami Beach, Dan Gelber, who recently instituted an 8 p.m. curfew in the city’s entertainment district to to deter people from congregating, didn’t mince words. He is concerned.
“We are in a bad position right now,” he said. “It’s hovering at this incredible level right now. Even if we level it off, which a lot of people say we are doing, we are leveling it off at multiples of where it was months ago. It is so much higher.”