South Florida COVID Testing Lines Test Patience
MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) - "How long have you been waiting on line?" CBS4's Joel Waldman asked Christian Dean, who was waiting in a seemingly endless line at Tropical Park for a COVID test.
"I think we got in line about an hour ago," said Dean. "I already cut like 30 cars, and I've still been waiting an hour."
Zuria Gonzalez, who recently tested positive, said she'd wait as long as she needed to.
"As long as it takes. I need to take this COVID test, but this is crazy!" she said.
"Patience is but a virtue, right," added Dean smiling.
It certainly is. And Dean packed plenty of it. He promised to keep CBS4 posted about how long it took him to wind through the long Tropical Park line. He said he is making the time to wait so his dad stays safe this holiday season.
"I actually just had a little cough. But my dad is very immunocompromised, so I decided to be safe rather than sorry," Dean said.
"I think the fact that the testing line is long is terrific. It means we're getting really smart about how to get together this holiday season," said University of Miami's Dr. Geeta Nayyar.
Dr. Nayyar may be one of the few so excited to see such long lines in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties on the same day omicron officially became the dominant variant in America.
Dr. Nayyar says it shows how far we've come in just two years, even though it doesn't always feel that way.
"We have gotten so much smarter from where we were March 2020. We have vaccines, we have boosters, we have ways of testing at home, we have medications, we have masks, we've come a long way," Dr. Nayyar said.
It was time to check back in with Dean.
"Christian it has been exactly an hour since we last spoke, how's it going?" Waldman asked.
"We have at least another hour, maybe two," exclaimed Dean.
As Dean continued to weave his way around the line, CBS4 learned that even superstar celebrity Harry Styles would have to wait. The Orange Bowl's Beach Bash concert was canceled.
Miami-Dade, meanwhile, announcing its put jury duty on pause for two weeks, while some University of Miami hospitals say they're once again banning visitors from visiting patients.
Dean let CBS4 know he finally made it through the line in just under three hours.
