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News about coronavirus in Florida and around the world is constantly emerging. It's hard to stay on top of it all but Health News Florida and WUSF can help. Our responsibility at WUSF News is to keep you informed, and to help discern what’s important for your family as you make what could be life-saving decisions.

BayCare Consolidates Coronavirus Drive-Thru Testing Sites To One Per County

STEPHANIE COLOMBINI/WUSF PUBLIC MEDIA
BayCare is reducing its number of drive-through testing sites from seven to four high-volume locations.

BayCare Health System is consolidating its drive-through COVID-19 testing sites to one high-volume location per county effective Monday.

According to a release, officials say they are reducing the number of locations in West Central Florida from seven to four.

CORONAVIRUS: Complete Coverage From WUSF And Health News Florida

The hours also are shifting to 9 a.m. to noon, officials said.

After five days of testing, BayCare says it has screened more than 6,100 people over Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties and collected specimens from nearly 3,500.

BayCare is asking that anyone who wants to be tested should be referred by a physician and have current symptoms (cough, fever, shortness of breath) in order to best utilize its limited test supplies. Test results are available in 5-7 days.

The new locations:

Hillsborough: BayCare Urgent Care (Tampa) - 3440 W. Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd., Suite 100, Tampa, FL 33607

Pinellas: BayCare Urgent Care (Carillon) - 900 Carillon Parkway, Suite106, St. Petersburg, FL 33716

Pasco: BayCare Urgent Care (New Port Richey): 4821 U.S. Highway 19, New Port Richey, FL 34652

Polk: BayCare Urgent Care (Haines City) - 36245 U.S. Highway 27, Haines City, FL 33844

Officials also say they are closing several BayCare Laboratory Patient Service Centers to divert resource to staffing the testing sites.

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