Gets city’s first fed COV-swab sites
Queens is getting the city’s first three federally run coronavirus testing sites, officials announced Wednesday as complaints about long lines for swabs abound amid the Omicron-fueled COVID surge.
The three test sites are among the first to be deployed across the nation following President Biden’s speech Tuesday in which he promised testing assistance to New York and other states hit hard by the recent surge in cases and testing demand.
“We’re grateful for the ongoing support the federal government has provided NYC during this pandemic to ensure we have the necessary resources to diagnose and treat this terrible virus,” said Mitch Katz, the CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, the city’s public-hospital system.
“The impacts we’ re seeing from the Omicron variant is further proof that we’re not out of the woods with COVID-19, but the additional testing capacity provided by President Bid en and the CDC allows us to detect more of the infection and help New Yorkers heal and stop the spread.”
The three test sites are the first of six mobile units from the CDC that are Big Apple-bound, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office.
They are in addition to the current testing network of hundreds of private sites and more than 100 publicly run spots, which have been plagued by long lines as New Yorkers seek COVID tests before the holidays.
But Schumer and fellow New York politicians said Wednesday the city alone will likely need at least another 90 clinics — and called on the feds to send up to 100 swab sites to the five boroughs.
“We need these locations across the city ,” Schumer said during a press conference at City Hall. He added he sent a letter Wednesday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting more support.
“They’re sending six, that is not close to enough, given the magnitude of the crisis and what we need,” he added. “The variant is raging. We need these mobile testing sites. You see people lined up all over in every part of the city waiting to be tested.”
The first of the CDC sites opened Wednesday at Travers Park in Jackson Heights, Queens.