SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The Sarasota County school district now has three COVID-19 testing sites available for rapid testing.
Testing is available to all symptomatic students and staff of Sarasota County Schools and will be free of charge.
Jody Dumas, the assistant superintendent and chief operating officer of Sarasota Schools says the goal is to get students and teachers in and out. Once you pull up to one of the three testing sites, a county Department of Health nurse will come out to the car and swab you for COVID-19.
“The hope is we get that student or staff member in that same day, get that test up to Tampa and get results back hopefully the next day,” Dumas said.
Sarasota County is the first school district to set up rapid testing sites around the county for teachers and students to get fast results.
Dumas says they set up these sites in various locations across the county to make it convenient for those in the school district to get tested.
In order to get a test, you must set up an appointment ahead of time.
“What they would do is fill out a form, they’d call the health department, the health department sets them up with an appointment time,” Dumas said. “And then they show up and get tested during that appointment time.”
Here are the three testing locations:
- In North County: The DOH on Ringling Blvd
- Will start taking appointments at 11:00 a.m. and stay open until they finish
- In Mid County: The School Board Materials Management Department in Osprey
- Open 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- In South County: The Sarasota County Schools bus depot on Citizens Parkway in North Port
- Open 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.