ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A new COVID-19 testing site opened Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
And the site hit capacity of all 350 kits at 8 a.m., an hour after opening on its first day.
What You Need To Know
- New Covid-19 testing site stopped testing at Tropicana Field Monday at 8 a.m.
- Trop site opened to handle traffic and increase testing demand
- BayCare coronavirus testing locations
- CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES: In the Tampa Bay area
There's been a big increase in coronavirus cases in Florida with about 27,000 more since Friday morning. And tens of thousands of people have been getting tested on a daily basis.
Testing will resume Tuesday at 7 a.m.
Testing is on a first-come first-served basis and people are asked to bring a referral from a medical provider if they have one.
The Trop testing site is in Lot 2 of the Trop’s parking lot on the west side of the stadium off 16th Street South.
Cars will be directed to enter from an entrance on 3rd Avenue South. The site is open today through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Starting next week, the site will run Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
However, tests will be limited to people with a referral or people experiencing coronavirus symptoms.
The Trop location opens a week after BayCare closed its last Pinellas County drive-thru testing site in the Carillon office park.
That site was open for 14 weeks and saw demand triple in just one week which caused traffic problems.
County health officials said the Trop is better suited to handle the traffic.
Officials said they will be able to conduct 350 tests a day at the Trop site. The turnaround time for test results is expected to be about three or four days.
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