Busy day of COVID-19 testing in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville saw another busy day of coronavirus testing Friday.

Action News Jax showed you how on Thursday, the walk-up testing site at the Legends Center had to close early because it reached its 300-person limit, but on Friday the site was able to get another 100 tests, so more people got the chance to get tested.

Ann Evans missed out on testing Thursday, but she and her niece were able to receive a test on Friday.

“We came yesterday around 4 o’clock and they were out of tests, so we got back today about 10 o’clock and we’ve been in line ever since,” said Evans.

It took her and her niece more than three hours to get tested, but it was a wait they were willing to undergo, even under the hot sun.

“I rather be safe than sorry, and I don’t want to be spreading it out to other people,” she said.

Anyone can get tested at the Legends Center for free, regardless of symptoms.

Friday’s testing capacity was expanded to 400 people up from 300 Thursday.

But despite the long lines at the Legends Center and at other sites like Lot J, Johns Hopkins University ranks Florida 29th out of 50 states when it comes to testing per 100,000 people, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project.

A graph from the Florida Dept. of Health shows a clear upward trend for emergency department and free-standing emergency department visits in June, and that worries medical experts.

While our local intensive care units are not full of COVID-19 patients, health experts warn that could change if we don’t slow down the spread.

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