New COVID-19 testing comes as more vaccines are delivered

Florida – A new, temporary coronavirus testing site has popped up at Miami’s Curtis Park.

Innovative Transfusion Medicine, the blood transfusion nonprofit running the site, is using it to hopefully make improvements to the testing process.

While the tests are free, Innovative Transfusion VP Ralph Aleman says the data collected will be used towards the development of a new rapid test — which is why they’re only testing those who are showing symptoms of COVID-19.

“All these tests that were doing and all this data that we’re collecting, we’re actually helping out with the CDC and the FDA, to be able to show the data that is needed,” Aleman said.

He added that they wanted to provide a service in an area where the infections have been “spiking.”

It comes during a critical time in the virus fight, with some 367,000 doses of the new Moderna vaccine arriving at select Florida hospitals, starting Monday. It’s a week since the Pfizer vaccine was delivered, allowing more than 32,000 Floridians to get vaccinated.

While a majority of the initial doses are being given to nursing home residents and healthcare workers, a federal advisory panel on Sunday released their recommendations as to who should get the vaccine next.

They say people age 75 and older should come next, along with essential workers that include firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers.

Those are just recommendations, though, and Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he planned to reveal more details Tuesday about the next steps in Florida’s vaccination plans.