Walk-up testing now available at Regency Square Mall site

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nurses are ready for walk-up COVID-19 testing at the Regency Square Mall, the Florida Association of Public Information Officers said Sunday morning.

In addition to walk-up testing, drive-thru testing is also available at the site. Those wishing to do the walk-up testing are asked to follow the signboards along the path and workers will guide people in.

The walk-up testing facility is air-conditioned, and those entering the facility must wear face masks.

According to the association, appointments are not required, but they encouraged. To make an appointment, visit DoINeedACOVID19Test.com. The site will also assist anyone who shows up without an appointment.

The Regency site is one of three new federal testing sites that opened last week in Jacksonville, which has been identified as a surge site by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The new sites in Arlington, the Northside and the Westside will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Wednesday. All the sites are drive-thru, offer active COVID-19 testing and are open to anyone age 5 and above regardless of symptoms.

Locations

• First Coast Senior High School, 590 Duval Station Road
• Frank H. Peterson Academies, 7450 Wilson Blvd.
• Regency Square Mall – outside old Sears, 9501 Arlington Expressway

At the Regency Square Mall sire, there is a maximum of five people per vehicle. There is no maximum for walk-in testing.

An existing site at Lot J is also set to close on Wednesday.

In place of Lot J, those seeking COVID-19 tests will be directed to a new indoor site inside the former Sears department store at Regency Square Mall. Having an indoor location will allow officials to test individuals, no matter the weather conditions outside.

RELATED: Here’s where you can get tested in Jacksonville

This week, the city also plans to open three testing sites of its own located in Arlington, Mandarin and the Beaches communities, which will be operated in partnership with Telescope Health, Optimum Health and the Florida Department of Health.

One of those sites will open on Monday at the Jim Fortuna Senior Center at 11751 McCormick Road inside Ed Austin Regional Park. That site will be open Monday to Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the next six months.

Testing at the Beaches site will take place at the former K-Mart shopping center on Atlantic Boulevard. Testing at that site will begin Thursday. Details for that site will be announced on Tuesday.

Testing at the Jim Fortuna Senior Center and the Beaches will be conducted in time slots based on people’s names and their vulnerability to the virus.

MORE: Telescope Health breaks down the time slots for COVID-19 testing

News4Jax could not obtain details about testing at the Mandarin site as of Saturday.

At the new sites opening this week, people being tested will have to wear a mask, show that they’re residents of Duval County and bring their own pens for use.

Florida on Sunday reported 15,300 additional coronavirus cases, the largest single-day increase in new cases in any one state since the beginning of the pandemic. According to numbers released Sunday morning by the Florida Department of Health, the state has now recorded a total of 269,811 cases. In Jacksonville, an additional 577 COVID-19 cases were reported Sunday, bringing Duval County’s total to 12,864 cases.