TheDepartment of Health inSarasota County, Sarasota County Government along with Sarasota Memorial Hospital have decided to pause the COVID-19 Drive-Thru testing site located at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota until Tuesday, March 31. To date, more than 60 people have been tested, however DOH Sarasota has not been able to fill the 50 appointment slots per day. DOH Sarasota believes that by pausing operations for two days community members who believe they have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 will have more time to seek medical advice, have a test ordered, and receive an appointment to visit the testing site. Additionally, pausing for a couple of days will help to conserve our most valuable resource, the people who are staffing the testing site for our community.

As a reminder, visitors to the Sarasota County COVID-19 testing site must be referred by a physician to be tested. The physician's office will contact DOH Sarasota who will then contact the individual with an appointment day and time. The site will be re-open at 8 am Tuesday and run until noon. The site has been set up at Twin Lakes Park, located at 6700 Clark Road in Sarasota.