COVID-19 testingOPEN WIDE — A Florida National Guard medic swabs a staff member at a Miami nursing home as part of a COVID-19 test.PHOTO COURTESY FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD"/>
OPEN WIDE — A Florida National Guard medic swabs a staff member at a Miami nursing home as part of a COVID-19 test. PHOTO COURTESY FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD

The COVID-19 testing site at the Volusia County Fairgrounds, 3150 E. New York Ave. east of DeLand, will transition from on-site rapid testing to distribution of at-home COVID-19 tests this Thursday, Jan. 27.

Rather than testing for the virus at the fairgrounds, people will receive a box with two at-home COVID-19 tests. Reservations are not required, and the fairgrounds site will continue to operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Up to 500 test kits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, Volusia County spokesman Gary Davidson said.

The testing site began operating Jan. 10 following a surge in demand for COVID-19 testing as cases increased with the omicron variant of the virus.

The week of Jan. 14-20 marked the first week since last December when new COVID-19 cases decreased from the prior week. According to the Florida Department of Health, Volusia County reported 5,718 new COVID-19 cases during the week of Jan. 14-20. The previous week, Jan. 7-13, Volusia County reported 7,465 new cases of the virus.

From Jan. 10 through Jan. 25, 4,054 people were tested for COVID-19 at the site.

Due to low demand, the fairgrounds testing site will no longer offer COVID-19 vaccination.

Interested in getting a COVID-19 vaccine? Visit www.vaccines.gov for more information and locations near you offering vaccinations.

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