A free COVID-19 testing site is opening Thursday at Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah
A phone line opened at 9 a.m. Wednesday for appointments at a free COVID-19 drive-thru testing site in Hialeah slated to open Thursday at Amelia Earhart Park.
The site will be open Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offer about 200 tests per day, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban Bovo told the Miami Herald.
In a news release, Bovo and former Florida Sen. Rene Garcia said the tests are for people age 65 and older showing symptoms of COVID-19, but Bovo said younger people with symptoms may also be eligible.
“I don’t know if we want to dissuade anybody,” he said, adding that the new site will offer greater testing coverage that was lacking in the northwest part of the county. “Former Sen. Garcia and myself have been a little miffed that we didn’t have a free testing site in Hialeah.”
There is currently a testing site at Larkin Community Hospital in Hialeah, but those tests are geared toward healthcare workers and first responders — and they cost $150 each.
“That was very prohibitive for folks,” Bovo said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered an attorney general investigation last Friday into the operation at Larkin, saying all tests for the novel coronavirus should be free.
Another site at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens is also for healthcare workers, first responders and people 65 and over with symptoms and chronic conditions.
The number to call for appointments at the new Hialeah site is 305-268-4319 — that’s 305-COVID19. Bovo said a local company in Miami Lakes, RingLogix, owned the number and offered it up for the new site.
Appointments are required and patients need to be in their cars, with a maximum of two people per car. The call center will open each day at 9 a.m. and close when slots for the next day are filled.
Test results may be turned around in as little as 48 hours by Testing Matters, a lab company based in Sunrise, according to Bovo. The company has 5,000 test kits and recently got its testing method approved by the Florida Department of Health, the commissioner said.
Bovo said he and Garcia were “working the phones” last week at the governor’s office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management before they ultimately gave Testing Matters the green light to put its tests to use.
Another company, Solis Health, will administer the tests and run them back to a lab every two hours, Bovo said.
People with appointments should enter Amelia Earhart Park through the entrance at Palm Avenue and 65th Street. Testing will take place at the rotunda next to the entrance at 401 E. 65th St.
DeSantis and Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández both said Tuesday that a new testing site was coming to the city, but the details weren’t released until Wednesday morning.
Standing outside Amelia Earhart Park on Wednesday, Hernández said in a video posted on Instagram that he had been making the argument for “weeks” that Hialeah should have a free testing site for its residents.
“I am happy to see that Governor DeSantis has made this decision,” Hernández said in a statement. “This will be a great help to our city in the fight against the coronavirus.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 11:03 AM.
