Writer: Sara Suarez
2 min read December 2021 —A new year, a new coronavirus variant to contend with. Omicron has already disrupted the new normal, ushering in a fresh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. With many health experts expecting things to get worse before they get better, these are the updated resources Broward County is providing for its residents.
Testing Facilities
County officials have partnered with the Florida Department of Health of Broward, the Sheriff’s Office, other municipalities and Fire Rescue to get ahead of the latest COVID-19 wave by increasing the number and capacity of testing sites. An official press release contains more information on additional testing sites.
Markham Park and C.B. Smith Park will be expanding their operations to test more patients per day. New tents have been set up at C.B. Smith, and new ones are coming to Markham today. Markham will operate regularly from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. while C.B Smith is operating from 8 a.m to 3 p.m. Operations will be closed at both parks to celebrate the New Year holiday on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
Mullins Park will open a new testing facility on its grounds on Monday, Jan. 3. The facility will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m to 4 p.m until Jan. 6. Afterward, the schedule for the facility will include Sunday. Broward County Mayor Michael Udine announced yesterday via Twitter that, “At least 7 additional locations have been identified and expected to open soon.”
At-Home Testing
Starting today, residents of Broward County have at their disposal a limited supply of at-home testing kits that can be used immediately, according to an official press release. The tests are being distributed throughout the library system for free to residents of the county upon showing proof of residence. For immediate information, consult Udine’s Twitter account, @MichaelUdine. President Joe Biden has ordered half a billion tests that will start becoming available as they arrive early January, according to the official White House Press briefing of Dec. 29. Udine has promised residents their fair share of the Biden deal, totaling half a million tests.
Residents who wish to receive the tests must use the drive-through, curbside service lanes of these libraries, and remain masked while inside the libraries. Kits are limited to two per household.
Masking Policies
Starting this past Monday, all visitors to Broward County government buildings will have to wear face masks to enter the premises, regardless of vaccination status. The measure, officials said in a press release, was reintroduced to curb the spread of infections, given that the omicron variant “spreads more rapidly than previous variants.” Broward County saw a daily average of 3,362 cases on Dec. 29, a 1.53% increase over the last 14 days, according to the New York Times’ coronavirus tracker. According to the NYT website, the risk of transmitting COVID-19 is “extremely high” and unvaccinated people are also at an “extremely high risk” of getting infected.
Vaccines
Although 82.7% of the population of Broward has gotten at least one shot of the vaccine, that number drops to 69.2% for fully vaccinated people. There is no data available on the number of people who have received a booster. According to the official website of Broward County, “booster shots are available for free at vaccination sites operated by Florida Department of Health in Broward.”
The CDC recommends booster shots for all persons aged 16 years and over. When it comes to the third dose, people can get a different type of vaccine, meaning mix-and-matching is allowed under certain conditions. For more information, see the official CDC statement here.
Quarantine
There has also been some positive news. New CDC guidelines recommend people infected with the new variant only need to quarantine for five days, instead of the usual two weeks. The CDC recommends that “people with COVID-19 should isolate for five days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by five days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people they encounter.” For additional information on quarantine guidelines see the official CDC statement here.
