Florida National Guard opens COVID-19 testing site near Manatee-Sarasota county line

Free, drive-thru COVID-19 testing is now available for the Manatee County and Sarasota County area at a site near The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota.

The site opened Sunday and will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, according to the Joint Information Center on COVID-19 for the State of Florida.

Testing requirements are much looser than at other public drive-thru testing sites that have been offered in the area.

Testing details:

▪ Testing is free and available for anyone over the age of 18.

▪ No prescriptions, appointments or symptoms are required.

▪ Participants do not have to be residents of Sarasota or Manatee counties.

▪ Vehicles should contain no more than five people, and occupants should be limited to those who are being tested.

▪ Participants must remain in their vehicles at all times.

In a briefing last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the drive-thru testing site would be capable of processing at least 750 sample collections a day.

Samples will be collected via nasal swab and sent to a commercial lab for testing, according to state officials, and results will be provided as soon as possible.

The Florida National Guard will administer the sample collections, according to the governor.

A release from the state did not say how long the testing site would operate. It is being operated in a partnership between the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida National Guard and Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Similar sites were planned to open this week in Broward, Escambia, Lee and Miami-Dade counties.

Details: Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. every day. Located in the parking lot east of Dillard’s at The Mall at University Town Center, 140 University Town Center Dr., Sarasota.

This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 2:20 PM.