Coronavirus
Need a late-night COVID test? Tropical Park has you covered with new 24/7 schedule
As Florida’s COVID third wave surges, more and more residents are taking themselves to testing sites. To meet the demand, Tropical Park is extending its testing hours to 24 hours a day, effective immediately.
The move comes amid a growing number of COVID cases in Florida, fueled by the very contagious delta variant. Florida on Friday reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 27,584 COVID-19 cases were added on Thursday, a single-day case record, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
As Miami-Dade County averages more than 24,000 COVID-19 tests per day, the Tropical Park COVID-19 testing site will be offering PCR testing non-stop, every day, the county said in a statement. The previous hours were 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tropical Park is one of the testing sites with the highest demand.
“Increasing access to COVID-19 testing is vital to detect the virus as early as possible,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement on Friday afternoon. “I’m proud that we are able to provide this important service 24/7 to Miami-Dade families, and grateful to Nomi Health for being willing to work around the clock to serve our community.”
The change in hours also aims to help those with demanding work schedules, reduce wait times and increase access during the school year. Wait times currently average 15 minutes across county-led sites.
“We want to make sure our community has access to all the tools they need to protect themselves and their loved ones, and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible, if you haven’t yet, to help us stop the spread,” Cava said.
Over the last week, from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26, Miami-Dade reported 16,621 new resident cases, according to the Florida Department of Health’s weekly report released on Fridays. The county has recorded totals of at least 627,423 confirmed cases and 6,472 deaths.
Out of Florida’s 67 counties, state data shows Miami-Dade has the highest percentage of eligible residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine. About 86%, or 2,177,331 people, of those eligible are fully or partially vaccinated.
Tropical Park is operated by Nomi Health, which runs Miami-Dade’s testing and vaccination sites. It is the first site in the county to be open 24 hours. Nomi Health also works in six other states.
“Giving the community 24-hour access to testing at Tropical Park is critical to Nomi’s mission of ensuring everyone who needs a test can get one,” said Ron Goncalves, general manager of Florida for Nomi Health. “We’re honored to serve Miami-Dade amid the spike and do our part in helping keep the community safe.”
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