FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Rapid COVID-19 testing is now available in Fort Lauderdale.
The Holiday Park testing site, at 1150 G. Harold Martin Drive, opened on Friday. It is the first COVID-19 rapid antigen testing site to open in Broward County.
“People should want to get tested on a regular basis,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. “You can’t be tested just once and think you’re done.”
Officials said 1,000 tests will be conducted at the Holiday Park testing site daily.
“The test results will be sent to the person within two hours and, most likely, results will be known in 20 minutes,” Trantalis said.
Rapid testing is available to anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Those without coronavirus symptoms who are between the ages of 5 to 17 years old and those who are 65 and older can get tested at the site between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., from Tuesday until Thursday.
Also on Friday, the Florida Department of Health reported another 505 coronavirus cases in the county.
Broward County Mayor Dale Holness said due to the decreasing positivity rates of cases in the county, they will be implementing new orders to help businesses out a little more.
“Because we’ve been successful, because we worked together and we see the results of our efforts, we are now extending the hours for restaurants to open until 11 p.m.,” said Holness. “This is to help the economy.”
There is also a new order in place for the county in an effort to curb public gatherings once restaurants close at 11 p.m.
“[The order] provides that there be no consumption of alcohol in public places — beaches, beach boardwalks, pedestrian areas, streets, highways, sidewalks, parking lots, parking areas and any other public area adjacent to any establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold or dispensed,” said Holness.
Due to Tropical Storm Laura, testing sites across Broward County will close at 3 p.m. on Friday and will remain closed through Monday.
🚨 Due to Tropical Depression #13, all #BrowardParks testing sites will close at 3 p.m. today (8/21) and remain closed thru Monday (8/24). Depending on the path and intensity of the impending storm, sites will reopen on Tues (8/25. Please call 954-276-4680 to reschedule tests.
— Broward County Parks (@BrowardParks) August 21, 2020
Meanwhile, in Miami-Dade County, the county topped more than 150,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, but Mayor Carlos Gimenez pointed to some positive signs during a virtual meeting with members of the medical community.
“I’ve been very encouraged by the declining daily positivity rate and the steadily falling number of hospitalizations from COVID-19,” he said. “We haven’t reached the ideal point to open up more businesses just yet, and believe me, I’m the first one who wants to get our economy moving again. If we start to open before the conditions are right, lives will be lost.”
Over at the University of Miami, four students at the Florence Hecht Residential College have tested positive for the virus.
The university said the students and several others with symptoms have been isolated. Fifty-one other people on two floors on the neighboring tower have been instructed to quarantine either in their rooms or at home.
Faculty who held in-person classes with those affected students have been notified, officials said.
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