Drive-thru testing a welcome sight, but frustrations mount
PARAMUS, N.J. — They climb into their cars in the middle of the night, racing to get in a line from which they may be turned away.
Feeling sick and stressed, people in the states hardest hit by the coronavirus have continued to stream into drive-thru testing sites, hoping to get guidance about whether to seek treatment, or reassurance that they aren’t infected. So they wait in darkness outside tented testing sites like the one at Bergen Community College, in Paramus, New Jersey, with achy bodies and uneasy minds, hoping shortly after sunrise they can finally be tested.
“I just hope I didn’t infect anybody,” said Alexander Carpio, 17, as he waited for his turn.
Mobile testing sites like the one in northern New Jersey were hastily arranged in a scramble to catch up on testing that remains difficult to get, especially for those who aren’t showing severe symptoms or elderly. There are 24 in New Jersey handling about 8,000 tests per day.
As of Wednesday, about 96,000 people had tested positive in the state. Next door, in New York, more than a quarter-million people have learned through testing that they are infected. The true number of ill people in both states is undoubtedly higher, as in many places tests remain scarce enough that people are being urged to only seek them if they are very ill.
In New Rochelle, the New York City suburb that was an early hot spot for the virus, a drive-thru testing site was established at Glen Island Park. That still left many people frustrated: Police turned away cars when they showed up without required appointments.
Even those who didn’t feel sick were jolted when they arrived at the popular location for picnics and special events on the Long Island Sound, and were greeted by National Guard troops and medical personnel outfitted in masks and other protective equipment.
An appointment wasn’t required in Paramus, but those wanting to be tested had to be showing symptoms. And with the ability to conduct only 500 tests per day, the site was reaching its capacity so quickly that it was closing not long after its 8 a.m. opening.
Teresa Reyes arrived after 4 a.m. and, with her husband Gene, she waited in line of cars that can snake dozens deep inside lanes divided by orange cones. They both work in New York hospitals, watching colleagues fall ill and dreading they would as well. She’s back at work now but baffled at the struggle to get a test.
“It’s kind of sad and also frustrating because this is America,” Reyes said. “We came from the Philippines and it’s a third-world country . ... We’re dealing with something that we don’t know and we’re not even protected.
“This is the USA. This is a first-world country. It’s supposed to be rich.”
Officials in many states hit hard by the virus have said the lack of widespread testing is the biggest challenge to lifting restrictions on social interaction that have kept people away from their jobs, and each other, for weeks.
A majority of people who successfully get a test wind up testing negative, state statistics show.