SUNRISE, Fla. – Drivers lined up before dawn Tuesday outside Markham Park in Sunrise, which became South Florida’s newest coronavirus testing site.
Amid rising COVID-19 cases, Broward County is expanding its testing locations, with another opening Sunday at Vista View Park in Davie.
More county-owned parks are being considered as the demand for testing grows.
Markham Park (16001 W. State Road 84 in Sunrise) is set up as a drive-thru testing operation, open Tuesday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Starting this weekend, testing at Vista View Park (4001 SW 142nd Avenue in Davie) will be open for drive-thru testing Sunday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition, the Florida Division of Emergency Management announced five federally funded COVID-19 testing sites that will open in South Florida from Friday through Aug. 2 (8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily):
- Dillard High School, 2501 NW 11th Street, Fort Lauderdale
- Blanche Ely High School, 1201 NW 6th Avenue, Pompano Beach
- McArthur High School, 6501 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
- Miami Jackson High School, 1751 NW 36th Street, Miami
- Miami-Dade Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler Street, Miami
Those five sites will test people 5 and older, regardless of symptoms. Testing is free, with or without insurance.
Another new community test site will open Wednesday and Thursday (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with senior hours from 9-11 a.m.) at Koinonia Worship Center and Village, 4900 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. in Hollywood. That site will offer free walk-up testing.
A full list of COVID-19 testing sites in Broward County can be seen here.
Enforcement needed
The bolstered testing in Broward comes days after the county implemented new restrictions designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, including a nightly 11 p.m. curfew.
On Monday, the county’s vice mayor Steve Geller told Local 10 News that the orders are not being enforced uniformly by the cities.
Based on the data, Geller said it appears officers in Fort Lauderdale are handing out the majority of citations while other cities taking a more lenient approach.
“We agreed to pay the cities for their code enforcement,” a visibly frustrated Geller said. “Well, we’re paying them and they’re not doing the investigations.”
The latest emergency order also called for tougher restrictions on vacation rentals and restaurant capacities, and a mask mandate in gyms.
They’re rules that county leaders believe could help avoid a second shutdown — if they’re enforced.
“If those orders are enforced, I’m confident we will not need to do a shutdown,” Geller said. “I’m confident the numbers will go in the right direction.”
Broward’s COVID-19 case total increased by 1,601 to 42,577 in the latest numbers released by the health department Tuesday. The county’s death toll is now at 517 after five new deaths were reported.