Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
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 can help. Our responsibility is to keep you informed, and to help discern what’s important for your family as you make what could be life-saving decisions.

FAMU Will Open COVID-19 Testing Site This Saturday

FAMU is working with the Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Management Services, and Leon County Health Department to provide COVID-19 tests to residents.
Gerald Tookes
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
FAMU is working with the Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Management Services, and Leon County Health Department to provide COVID-19 tests to residents.
Credit Gerald Tookes / FAMU
/
The Florida Channel
FAMU is working with the Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Management Services, and Leon County Health Department to provide COVID-19 tests to residents.

Florida A & M University will be testing residents for COVID-19 starting this Saturday at the Bragg Stadium parking lot. A physician's referral is not needed.

FAMU Associate Dean for the Institute of Public Health Cynthia Harris says, some people living close to the campus may not have reliable transportation, and this testing site could help them out.

"Transportation is a big issue. Some of them might not be able to get readily to the Northwood site, and so we're just providing another opportunity for people in the neighborhood to have this," Harris says.

The college will have enough kits to test 200 people per day for 14 days. Starting Thursday at noon, people can make an appointment by calling 850-404-6399. Residents can also walk up to the site beginning Saturday from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Harris explains that FAMU's location will allow greater access to testing for those who may be vulnerable to COVID-19.

"The coexisting conditions and the disproportionate number of these conditions that we find in at largely African-American and Latino communities make those particular populations even more vulnerable," Harris says.

The site is open to all people who believe they have COVID-19 symptoms.

FAMU's site is modeled after other walk-up sites the state has established in medically-underserved areas in Broward and Duval counties. 

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit .

Robbie Gaffney is a recent graduate from Florida State University with degrees in Digital Media Production and Creative Writing. Before working at WFSU, they recorded FSU’s basketball and baseball games for Seminole Productions as well as interned for the PBS Station in Largo, Florida. Robbie loves playing video games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Their other hobbies include sleeping and watching anime.