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Shorter Wait Times at Orange County Convention Center Test Site After Last Week's "Rush on Testing"

Spc. Joshua Meeker, from the 3rd Battalion, 265th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, collects samples at the Orange County Convention Center Testing site. The drive through testing site is ramping up capacity this week. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Spencer Rhodes)
107th Mobile Public Affairs Deta
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The average wait time throughout most of the day on Monday at the Orange County Convention Center coronavirus testing site was one to two hours long. 

Testing site spokesman Mike Jachles says the site has been experiencing shorter wait times the last few days. 

Jachles says he expects there was a rush on testing last week as daily coronavirus test numbers broke records.

“Obviously everybody was very concerned with the number of positives. People were rushing out to get tested. Hopefully that’s tapered off. But regardless we are designed at that site to test a large number of people.”

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Jachles said the line tends to be the longest in the morning when they’re processing a line of cars waiting for the site to open.

And he says mid-day remains the best time to come out to the site to get tested.

“Our goal is to get everybody in and out as quickly as possible. The last thing we want is for people to come out and wait. So the best advice is gauge it, follow our Twitter, stay informed and come out when there are not big lines.”

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Jachles said the site didn’t reach its 2,000 coronavirus test-a-day cap today with only slightly more than 1,400 swabs collected.

For a list of testing sites in Orange County, click on the link.

Danielle Prieur covers education in Central Florida.