Happy Monday! Here’s the 5 Things You Need to Know to start this week out right:
1. Here’s where to get tested for the coronavirus in Osceola County this week.
There are four locations around the county free COVID-19 tests will be available this week.
Testing remains available Monday through Friday at Prescriptions Unlimited, 2521 13th Street, Suite A in St. Cloud, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily for those 18 years and older. Appointments are not required. Testing will be offered on a first come, first served basis with a limited number of tests available.
The county’s mobile testing site will be at the Mary Jane Arrington Gym and Aquatic Center (625 Country Club Drive) Poinciana, Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Testing will occur inside the facility, so those seeking testing are asked to wear a face covering. Testing remains available Mondays and Fridays at the Florida Department of Health in Osceola County, 1875 Fortune Road, Kissimmee. For each of these locations, call 407-343-2000 to schedule an appointment.
Drive-through testing is still available at the Walmart Supercenter at 3250 Vineland Road in Kissimmee, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Appointments and further information can be found at MyQuestCovidTest.com.
Keep in mind there are no symptom criteria to get tested.
2. St. Cloud Medical Group is holding a Job Fair today to help fill its brand new Medical Office building!
In preparation for the move into its new 50,000 square foot, two-story medical office building, St. Cloud Regional Medical Center and St. Cloud Medical Group will hold a job fair today, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., by appointment only.
Register online at stcloudregional.com, then call 407- 498-3775 for an appointment time in order to keep social distancing practices. Open positions include Certified Medical Assistant, Front Desk Assistant and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). Candidates must have Athena electronic health record experience.
3. There have been 6,500 new COVID-19 cases reported the last three days in Florida.
That includes 48 more cases in Osceola County over the last three days for a total of 838, but according to the Florida Department of Health’s statistics there have been no fatalities recorded here in over a week — knock on wood — and just three new hospitalizations since last Sunday.
Based on the county’s population of 368,000, 1 out of 438 residents has been diagnosed with it — that number may be skewed just a bit factoring in non-residents diagnosed here. Of that two-tenths of one percent of the population, 1 in 5 of them have been hospitalized and 1 out of 40, or 2.5 percent, have died.
For the lab test results returned, Osceola County is still returning just over 3 percent positive tests over the last five days. So, there is some good news in with the tough news, but we have to stay vigilant, by washing hands frequently, using hand sanitizer when we can’t, wearing face coverings when in public and maintaining six feet of social distancing.
4. Osceola County high school athletes can return to voluntary conditioning workouts with coaches this week.
After gyms, practice fields and weight rooms have sat quiet and empty for almost exactly three months, the Osceola County School District will allow athletes to return to campus to work out with coaches starting this morning.
Athletes who are participating in such conditioning will need completely-filled out paperwork, active physicals and online clearance to participate, and will need to bring all of their equipment needs themselves like workout clothes, shoes, water, towels and bags.
Practice will be limited to conditioning and 50 percent exertion in weight rooms (maximum 25 in weight rooms at a time if 6-foot distancing can be maintained). There will be no sports-specific equipment used the first two weeks — so no throwing a football or hitting a volleyball — no contact drills, and locker rooms are off limits.
Osceola County is the second in Central Florida to start workouts. Seminole County began last week.
5. SpaceX sent another batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit Saturday morning.
The Falcon 9 rocket lit up the pre-dawn sky to the east at 5:21 a.m. Saturday, lofting a new batch of satellites along with three smaller Earth-observation satellites. Minutes later it stuck the landing on its drone ship in the Atlantic. The exhaust from the rocket was illuminated by the sun, which was just below the horizon.
It was the second Starlink mission this month. There’s one more on the schedule, set for no earlier than May 22. We’ll let you know when to look toward Cape Canaveral when they schedule the launch.
Today’s weather has middle of June written all over it. If you wanted to get a great picture of sunset tonight, You may or may not get to see it, as there’s a 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon after we reach a high of around 88, or what we call a Monday in June. Tonight expect clearing skies and a low temperature in the lower 70s.
