New Test Site Opens In St. Pete, Reaches Max Capacity Quickly

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The new coronavirus drive-thru testing site at the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg that launched Monday at 7 a.m. quickly reached testing capacity, and is closed until Tuesday morning, a St. Petersburg Police Department tweet said.

Pinellas County residents can take advantage of the testing starting at 7 a.m. on Tuesday until daily supplies run out or until its scheduled closing time at 11 a.m., whichever comes first.

During its opening week, it operates Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will be closed July 3 in observance of Independence Day. In weeks that follow, the site will operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

This location opens a week after BayCare closed its Pinellas drive-thru test collection site in the Carillon office complex in north St. Pete. The site, which had operated for 14 weeks, saw demand triple in one week, causing traffic problems for neighboring businesses and testing more than 700 in its last two days of operation.

Florida experienced a record high of confirmed coronavirus cases in a one-day surge of 9,585 new cases on Saturday, and 8,570 new cases on Sunday as reported by the Florida Health Department.

For more details on Florida setting second straight week of coronavirus records, read the report written by Patch reporter Paul Scicchitano from Miami Patch.