Lake offers free coronavirus rapid tests to residents
Lake County residents can get a free rapid test for COVID-19 through Dec. 8.
The county, hoping to lower any chance for an outbreak as the holidays approach, is partnering with Adult Medicine of Lake County to offer the tests at the Lake Square Mall on U.S. Highway 441 in Leesburg.
Residents can be tested from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sundays and Thanksgiving and do not need an appointment. You also do not have to have symptoms of the coronavirus.
Rapid tests can provide results in 15 to 30 minutes.
“Anything we can do to try to prevent having an outbreak as a result of Thanksgiving and going into Christmas, I think it would be very beneficial to our residents,” Commission Chairman Leslie Campione said this week.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting. Thomas Carpenter, Lake’s director of Emergency Management, reminded residents that even if they test negative, it is important to maintain social distance and wear a mask.
Although the free tests last only until Dec. 8, the commissioners said they might extend the program.
Lake has seen an increase in positive cases recently, as have other parts of the state and nation.
“We are doing fairly good in our region and comparatively to the nation,” said Aaron Kissler, the health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Lake County.
As of Wednesday, 9,739 county residents had tested positive for coronavirus, with 243 deaths and 783 people who required hospitalization. More than 100,000 people have been tested in Lake, which has about 380,000 residents.
Although free for residents, the cost to Lake will be $7 a test, and Adult Medicine said it could do up to 1,500 tests a day. The county plans to pay with money from its federal COVID relief fund, known as CARES.
Adult Medicine said it is doing rapid tests that involve a finger prick to check blood for the antibodies that result from a current or a past COVID19 infection.
Adult Medicine will continue to offer the nasal swab test for $20, but those results can take 36 to 48 hours. They involve swabbing inside the nose and can show if a person has COVID-19 at the time of the test.
Doctors and some walk-in clinics also offer COVID tests in Lake and elsewhere across Central Florida.