SARASOTA, Fla. -- One priority for the state has been to make more testing available to anyone who wants it. Now a second state-run testing site is open in the Tampa Bay area. It's the 12th state-supported testing site in Florida.
The testing site at University Town Center Mall in Sarasota is available for anyone who wants to get tested for COVID-19. The site opened on Sunday. On Tuesday, the it ran out of tests before noon.
During a press conference at UTC on Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis said the number of free tests at the site would be increasing from 400 a day to 750 tests each day.
DeSantis announced the state hit its lowest single-day percentage for positive tests, just over 2 percent of nearly 24,000 tests came back positive.
DeSantis says the state will be distributing 200,000 antibody tests to hospitals and state-run testing sites by the end of the week.
The antibody tests will give people who think they may have had the virus a chance to get tested.
"I’ve had people say, 'You know, I have a really nasty illness in late February. I went in, tested for flu and was negative. I may have had this.' Well, you can come in and get tested for antibodies, then you’ll know," said DeSantis.
DeSantis also announced a mobile testing unit that will start this week going to assisted living facilities that can run COVID-19 tests in 45 minutes.
The University Town Center Mall testing site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.