TAMPA, Fla. — Florida is seeing record-breaking numbers of people hospitalized with COVID-19.
And with the surge of delta variant cases, we're seeing more people looking to get tested and finally deciding to get vaccinated.
Even without the large-scale testing sites, we saw in the early days of the pandemic, there are still many options for finding locations to get tested for COVID-19.
In Hillsborough County testing and vaccination locations are no longer managed by the health department.
But they do recommend CVS, Quest Diagnostics, Walgreens, and independent pharmacies: https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/residents/public-safety/emergency-management/stay-safe/getting-tested
For vaccinations locations anywhere go to vaccines.gov.
The Pinellas County Department of Health’s site shows a map with many locations for testing, including multiple CVS and Walgreens and urgent cares.
USF Professor, Dr. Jason Salemi studies the COVID-19 numbers released by the Florida Department of Health.
He says testing has gone up in the state from about 50,000 a day to about 80,000 a day.
“That increase pails in comparison to the increase in cases and that’s why we see positivity increasing. So when you see test positivity going up that means the increase in cases is more than the increase in testing volume. Obviously, in the last six weeks, we went from 3.3% to over 18%. It’s affected just about every county in Florida."
For vaccinations, the Pinellas County Health Department is accepting appointments.
You can also go to one of many local pharmacies.
The Pasco County Department of Health website will show testing locations, which include urgent care and clinics.
The department of health offers vaccinations at two locations, one on each side of the county.
http://pasco.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/infectious-disease-services/COVID-19/index.html