APOPKA, Fla. – Orange County is opening a third COVID-19 testing site Thursday to help meet the demand.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced the new site during his COVID-19 update Tuesday afternoon. The site, located at South Orange Youth Sports Complex, comes days after the reopening of the county’s second COVID-19 test site at Econ Soccer Complex.
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The new site will be open seven days a week, except for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offer both PCR and rapid tests. This testing site will have drive-thru and walk-up testing options available.
The county’s testing sites have been at capacity every day for over a week as the new omicron variant fuels new infections across the country and in Florida. The Barnett Park testing site closed just after noon on Wednesday.
“Over the past two weeks, it has taken hold and now has everyone’s attention in our community,” Demings said. “We know that it is highly contagious, but results in less severe illness than the delta variant.”
The mayor said over 3,000 tests combined were administered at Barnett Park and Econ Soccer Complex on Monday.
“To put the number into perspective, in mid-November we were only doing 300-400 tests daily... In less than one week, Orange County has now tripled the number of tests being done daily,” he said.
The mayor also announced Econ Soccer Complex and Barnett Park hours for testing will now operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until they reach capacity. Once the new site opens, all three test sites will take walk-ups.
Amid the omicron surge, COVID-19 cases are up. The CDC Wednesday reported 46,923 new cases in Florida.
As of Wednesday statewide, there were 90 pediatric hospitalizations, the most Florida has seen since October and more than 3,300 adults are in the hospital, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
Demings called out the governor, saying the county hasn’t received any assistance recently from the state when it comes to testing.
“Local governments have left to figure it out and respond on our own,” Demings said. “Where is our governor? Where is Ron Desantis now?”
News 6 reached out to the governor’s office for a comment. The governor’s press secretary directed News 6′s inquiry to the Florida Department of Health, which responded, in part, with the following:
Demings said he’s mandating all Orange County employees to wear their masks on the job until further notice. He said 19 workers tested positive last week. Tuesday, 80 county employees are positive, most of them are firefighters.
The City of Apopka is also running into issues with a testing site operated by private provider Nomi Health.
Mayor Bryan Nelson said the site is back at Edwards Field after spending a few weeks temporarily set up at city hall.
Nelson said testing demand went up before Christmas and that caused issues.
“The day before Christmas and then that Monday lines were at least half a mile long, probably longer than that,” Nelson said. “Unfortunately right in front of our fire station, so not a good scene, so I said we’ve got to get them back over here.”
Nelson said Nomi officials told him they couldn’t move the site right away, prompting the city to hire people to move the trailers back to Edwards Field to accommodate the high testing demand.
But Nelson said there were still frustrations, including Nomi’s website still listing city hall as the testing location and the testing site stopped taking appointments.
“The communication between Nomi and on their website and the public has not been good at all,” Nelson said.
Nelson said despite the issues, the city will continue working with the private provider to offer testing options.
“It’s their gig and we just want to support them any way we can to get those people tested who want to get tested,” Nelson said.
News 6 made multiple attempts to speak to Nomi Health officials on Wednesday, but we never heard back.
Nomi Health testing site is open every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or until capacity is reached. Head to the Nomi Health website for more information.