ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Starting this weekend, the Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) together with the Florida Department of Health Orange County will be reducing testing site hours at the two-weekend school COVID-19 test sites as COVID testing will be offered to all schools by December.

The testing sites are at Rosemont Elementary School and at Union Park Elementary from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Orange County Health officials are hopeful that this latest deadly coronavirus case spike Central Florida been dealing with over the past few weeks is declining, reporting new cases and hospitalizations are dropping in Orange County.

But health leaders are stressing it is important now for the community to stay vigilant when it comes to vaccinations and testing for COVID-19.

Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, said reducing the hours at the two-weekend testing sites is due to decreased demand for testing at OCPS schools.

The county's testing hour reduction is coming just days after OCPS reported its highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in students yet, with close to 500 students reported to have the coronavirus on Sept. 7.

But, Pino said health officials want to remain vigilant when it comes to contact tracing in students and staff to identify exposures, as well as with testing at every school. It is why they are working to make COVID-19 testing available at all OCPS schools within the next few months. 

“That’s going to take a little bit of time but that’s where moving forward, instead of offering it in the seven regions as we are, we will offer everyday, during school hours in the school. But that requires some investment, a little bit of work and about $32 million a year,” said Pino during a press conference. 

"We are in the process, we have the resources. We are just designing, putting it together and probably by December or even before that, we could be offering testing in all the schools during the school hours for students who are symptomatic and asymptomatic," he continued.

OCPS’s COVID-19 dashboard currently shows there are 857 active quarantines in the district, as 10 employees quarantine for COVID-19 exposure together with more than 800 students.

Complete list of Orange County school testing sites

• Monday — Catalina Elementary 4 p.m. — 8 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  2448 29th St., Orlando, FL, 32805

• Tuesday — Avalon Elementary 4 p.m. — 8 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  13500 Tanja King Blvd., Orlando, FL, 32828

• Wednesday — Lakeville Elementary 4 p.m. — 8 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  2015 Lakeville Rd., Apopka, FL, 32703

• Thursday — Winegard Elementary 4 p.m. — 8 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  7055 Winegard Rd., Orlando, FL, 32809

• Friday — WestPointe Elementary 4 p.m. — 8 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  7525 Westpointe Blvd., Orlando, FL 32835
  
  
• Saturday — Union Park Elementary 10 a.m. — 2 p.m. (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  1600 N. Dean Rd., Orlando, FL, 32825

• Sunday — Rosemont Elementary 10 a.m. — 2 p.m.  (OCPS students, parents, staff)
  4650 Point Look Out Rd., Orlando, FL, 32808