JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After closing for the holiday, COVID-19 testing sites reopened on Monday in Duval County.
The sites are expecting long lines as COVID-19 cases are surging across the state.
At one drive-thru testing site located at the former K-Mart in Neptune Beach, there were long lines before noon.
At the site, which is one of the busiest in Duval County, the line wrapped around the building. One person in line told News4JAX he has been waiting for well over two hours.
The Neptune Beach testing site is trying to test as many people as possible.
“We have so many people that are coming by and many of the people in the car have three or maybe four people in it,” said spokesperson Erin Harris. “So we’re sometimes temporarily closing the line to just service the people that are here and to make the wait not as enormous.”
The site, operated by Telescope Health, reached capacity for the day around 1 p.m.
On Friday, the Sunshine State reported 31,758 new COVID-19 cases. It topped that on Christmas Day with a report of 32,850 added coronavirus cases, a new record.
The previous single-day highest number of cases was in late August, during the height of the delta variant wave in Florida, when 27,802 cases were reported.
After the holidays, the number of cases could go up even more and hospitals could become loaded with COVID-19 patients.
In other parts of the state, Floridians hoping to get COVID-19 tests waited in long lines, sometimes for hours, on Sunday, the day after many had gathered with friends and relatives for Christmas.
The following sites reopened Monday, Dec. 27 in Duval County:
- Clanzel T. Brown Community Center
- Lane Wiley Community Center - open 9 a.m.
- Emmett Reed Community Center
- Cuba Hunter Community Center
- Telescope Health - open 7 a.m.
RELATED: COVID-19 testing is provided at the following locations
For more information, visit the Florida Department of Health in Duval.