BayCare Partners to Support Government-led COVID-19 Test Site

CLEARWATER, Fla., March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BayCare Health System is joining with government and health care partners to support a new COVID-19 test collection site at Raymond James Stadium.

Led by Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa, the new site opens Wednesday (March 25) and has the potential to scale-up to provide more access if testing supplies can be found. Joining BayCare in supporting the site is Tampa General Hospital, AdventHealth and HCA-West Florida Division.

"We are proud to join Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa and our fellow providers to create a community site for testing," said Dr. Nishant Anand, chief medical officer for BayCare. "It's going to take all the institutions in our community to combat this threat and the Hillsborough site is a great step forward."

More information about the new stadium site can be found on the Hillsborough County website, HCFLGov.net/StaySafe.

With BayCare supporting the operation of the Hillsborough site, it will restore regular service on Wednesday to its nearby Urgent Care center. The location on Martin Luther King Boulevard has been one of BayCare's COVID-19 test collection sites.

BayCare will continue to operate three drive-thru COVID-19 test collection sites, in Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties. BayCare, like other health care providers, is evaluating daily its capacity to provide service due to the tightening of test kit supplies.

Since March 18, BayCare has operated drive-thru test collection sites in four counties. As a community-led health system in West Central Florida, BayCare saw the need for testing across the region to try to determine the state of the COVID-19 outbreak and to raise awareness around the need for symptomatic individuals to isolate to avoid infecting others.

As of Tuesday, BayCare's test collection sites have facilitated the testing of more than 4,200 individuals for COVID-19.  In some counties, this effort has doubled the number of individuals being tested. All told, more than 7,200 people have been screened for symptoms of COVID-19.

"Every individual we identify as COVID-19 positive and who self-isolates potentially prevents many others from getting sick," said Dr. Anand. "That has huge positive implications for our community."

The three BayCare drive-thru test collection sites open from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday are:

• BayCare Urgent Care (Carillon)
• 900 Carillon Parkway, Suite106, St. Petersburg, FL 33716    
• BayCare Urgent Care (New Port Richey)
• 4821 U.S. Highway 19, New Port Richey, FL 34652    
• BayCare Urgent Care (Haines City)
• 36245 U.S. Highway 27, Haines City, FL 33844           

To find which BayCare Urgent Care centers and laboratories remain open to serve patients with non-COVID-19-related illnesses and injuries, visit baycare.org/coronavirus/closures

Results from the tests are not expected until about a week after the specimen is collected. Patients will be called with their results, which also will be reported to the Florida Department of Health as required by state law.

Due to patient privacy laws, BayCare requires members of the media to coordinate and be accompanied by a member of the BayCare Communications Department when visiting a testing site.

About BayCare Health System
BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit www.BayCare.org.

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SOURCE BayCare Health System