Orange County drive-thru testing reaches capacity in 7 minutes; map shows latest clusters of cases

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Orange County was scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. But it stopped accepting people at 9:07 a.m. after it reached its capacity of 250 people in line to be tested.

One hour before the testing site officially opened, 240 cars were already in line. Lauren Luna, deployed as an on-site public information officer, said the first people in line got there are 6 a.m.

“We all wish there were more tests,” Luna said. “Right now, what we have is the 250 that we’re federally mandated and allowed to give each day. So we’re doing the best that we can within those guidelines.”

READ: Coronavirus: How to make fabric masks during COVID-19 pandemic

Right now, the Central Florida site has fewer tests than all of the other state sites.

"Miami has more. Jacksonville has more,” Luna said. “But they have either hospital partners or a state partner for that."

The testing is important because dollars and supplies are dictated by the number of cases in each community. As South Florida keeps getting more tests, the number of cases there increases.

But with limited tests here, there will be no way of truly knowing how many cases there actually are.

Orange County released an updated “heat map” of where the most cases of COVID-19 are being reported:

Download the WFTV news app and watch Channel 9 Eyewitness News for live updates on this developing story, or click here to have updates sent straight to your inbox.

© 2020 Cox Media Group