STATEWIDE — CVS Health opened 10 Drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Florida on Friday.

This includes sites in the Orlando and Tampa Bay areas.

There are two locations in Central Florida: Orlando and Altamonte Springs. The locations in the Bay area are in Largo, Lutz and Tarpon Springs. 

The testing sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company’s nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy.

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Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 15 to schedule an appointment. 

Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions; a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. 

Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days.

Orlando sites:

13454 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando

221 South S.R. 434, Altamonte Springs

Tampa Bay sites: 

8905 Bryan Dairy Road, Largo

1000 East Tarpon Avenue, Tarpon Springs

2322 Land O Lakes Boulevard, Lutz

"While the large-scale test sites we've been operating since early April have proven successful, this new approach allows us to utilize our presence in communities across the country and bring testing closer to home," CVS Health President Larry J. Merlo is quoted as saying in a company news release.

"I think it's a great idea," said Dr. Jay Wolfson, a professor of public health, pharmacy, and medicine at the University of South Florida, as well as senior associate dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. "The more testing we do, the more data we get, the more we inform people in our communities about what's happening. It's part of what's really needed."

Wolfson he expects self-testing will be a bit of a learning experience, with some challenges that will need to be worked out.

"It's not always that comfortable," he said of the nasal swab. "So, we want to make sure it's done correctly. If it's not done correctly, you're not going to get the proper sample."

Wolfson said it's also important to make sure the tests themselves are accurate and don't result in too many false positives or false negatives. Another concern is that tests may be contaminated after they're performed.

"The people we train to do this are very carefully trained. They're nurses, physician's assistants, physicians, and technical staff who've trained to do it properly," Wolfson said. "The more hands you have touching it, the greater the risk of either contamination or mislabeling it. But the general principle is more testing is good. We want to make sure that it's done properly under good supervision, and we're going to learn as we go."

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