TAMPA (WFLA) – There is a huge demand for COVID-19 testing and starting today, the state will take over the Raymond James Stadium testing site.
“Their goal is to process a thousand people a day through that site which is much, much more because of the limitations of the number of licensed medical personnel that we have,” said Jon-Paul Lavandeira with Hillsborough County.
8 On Your Side is told the Raymond James testing site will operate Tuesday- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Dr. Jay Wolfson, a distinguished professor of public health medicine at U.S.F. says there are many reasons people are having problems getting appointments for COVID19 tests, including a lack of people to administer the tests and a lack of test kits.
“That’s just a supply chain issue. You have to order in advance, you have to expect what your population is going to be like. It’s like going to McDonald’s and they say hey folks we’re out of hamburgers. We can’t let that happen,” said Dr. Wolfson.
The state will take over testing at the Raymond James Stadium location on Tuesday and the county believes that it will help smaller test locations in the county.
“It alleviates some of the demand on some of these smaller sights because Raymond James will be open more days of the week, being able to process more people through the gates, it’s going to be overall a force multiplier for all of us,” said Lavandeira.
The state will also be setting up an even largest testing site in Pinellas County later this week. You will still need an appointment to be tested. For a list locations where you can be tested in the Bay Area, click here.
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