TAMPA, Fla. -- The coronavirus drive-thru testing center at Raymond James Stadium will now be open through Wednesday.
- Raymond James testing site extended through Wed.
- Health care officials received more testing kits
- FDA working on a new COVID-19 test
- More coronavirus news
April 3 was supposed to be the last day, but the county received more test kits from the state. However, not all tests are created equal.
The test you'll receive for COVID-19 looks to see if you're infectious right now, but it doesn't test whether you've maybe already had the virus, fought it, and have gotten better. And while the FDA is working on a test which could do just that, the head of USF's School of Medicine says it can't come soon enough.
Dr. Charles Lockwood sat down with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor this week in a virtual press conference where he spoke about the differences in testing for COVID-19 compared to other epidemics.
He said the current test which is available, and the test they're using in Hillsborough County, only tests to see if you're shedding the virus right now, and due to a shortage of testing kits, the people who are being tested are the very worst cases, skewing statistics and not giving a realistic look at the spread and impact.
According to our partners at CNN, the FDA is looking into new tests being developed which would look for antibodies in your blood, which could detect if you had the virus already.
Dr. Lockwood said this test could provide valuable information.
"There are a lot of people who have already had the infection that got better that may have been infectious earlier and we didn't recognize that and so they may be infecting people or had been infecting people previously that we're not aware of," he explained.
As always, the best way to prevent getting coronavirus is to wash your hands often, and stay at home as much as you can.
As of today, the testing site will be open through next Wednesday, but the hours could be extended again if the county receives more testing kits from the state.