Long Lines Form Again For COVID-19 Testing, Tropical Park Site Out Of Regeneron
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Another day of extremely long lines at COVID-19 test sites in South Florida.
In Broward, C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines and Markham Park in Sunrise closed briefly Tuesday morning due to lightning from passing storms. When they re-opened, lines quickly formed. The health department said the testing site at C.B. Smith Park will be closing at 3 p.m. for the next two weeks due to a pre-scheduled event at the park.
More than 57,000 people were tested Monday in Miami-Dade.
Wait times for testing on Monday spanned up to two hours at Tropical Park in southwest Miami-Dade.
On Tuesday it was confirmed that venue, the only county-run site offering Regeneron, had exhausted its supply of the monoclonal antibody treatment. Officials have requested more from the state's health department.
Some hospitals and doctor's offices still have Regeneron for eligible patients.
Interest in testing has increased with an increase in COVID-19 cases and the rapidly spreading Omicron
variant.
According to genomic surveillance data, the Omicron variant has overtaken the Delta variant as the dominant strain in Miami-Dade.
Genetic sequencing of the virus showed Omicron grew from a tiny fraction of hundreds of samples taken the first week of December to nearly three of every four samples taken last week.
The variant is also sweeping the nation, accounting for 73 percent of new infections last week, federal health officials said.
