Where can you get tested for coronavirus? Publix and Home Depot now an option in Florida
COVID-19 walk-up testing sites will be opening at three Publix stores in Florida on Thursday as part of a partnership with the state to increase testing accessibility. It’s part of the state’s plan to open at least six additional walk-up sites, including at select Home Depot stores.
One of the test sites will be in Broward County. The site will be in the parking lot of the Publix at Coral Ridge at 11600 W. Sample Rd. in Coral Springs.
Testing will also be available in the parking lots of the Publix at Port Charlotte Crossing, 4265 Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte, and at the Publix at Saxon Crossings, 2100 Saxon Blvd. in Deltona.
All three walk-up sites open Thursday and will be able to conduct up to 100 tests per day, according to Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. Testing is free and will be available to anyone who is over the age of 18, whether or not they have symptoms. The sites will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Test results will be available through Quest Diagnostics within five to seven days, according to the state.
The locations were confirmed shortly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis afternoon briefing in Orlando about the novel coronavirus and Florida’s reopening plan Wednesday. DeSantis gave his approval for most of the state, except Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County, to move into the second phase of the state’s three-part reopening plan Friday, with bars and movie theaters allowed to open at a limited capacity.
DeSantis announced the partnership between the state, Publix and Home Depot during a briefing at the first Home Depot testing site in Palm Beach County on May 29. The store is at 9820 Glades Rd in Boca Raton. The goal of these sites is to make testing for the novel coronavirus “as convenient as possible for people,” he said.
Florida’s Division of Emergency Management says it will be providing staffing and personal protective equipment at each site. The other two walk-up Home Depot testing locations have not been announced yet.
The state says the six testing sites will act as a “pilot program,” with the possibility of more sites being added in the future.
So far, Florida has established 15 drive-thru and 17 walk-up testing sites across the state and has tested more than 230,000 people at these sites.
