NYC to launch new mobile COVID-19 testing program
COVID-19 testing site sat the Highbridge Recreation Center in Manhattan. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Getting tested for the coronavirus in New York City is about to get easier. Starting next week, the city will launch a mobile testing program that will bring testing “trucks” to different neighborhoods, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday. The news comes after the city expanded free COVID-19 testing for all New Yorkers, a part of the Test and Trace Corps that kicked off this week ahead of the city’s phase one reopening on Monday.
Two testing trucks will be set up in Soundview in the Bronx on June 9 and June 10 and in Kew Gardens in Queens on June 11, the mayor said. By July, there will be 10 mobile testing trucks throughout the city.
The trucks will take patients on a walk-in basis only. They will have the capacity for 80 tests per day, for a total of 800 tests per day next month.
The city is encouraging every New York to get a free COVID-19 test, particularly anyone who has attended one of the many recent protests happening across the city. De Blasio said about 33,000 people were tested for the virus in one day last week; the city hopes to get up to 50,000 people per day.
The open testing program is the first time COVID-19 testing is available for anyone in the city regardless of symptoms or level of priority. Residents can visit NYC.gov/CovidTest to find a testing site near them.
RELATED:
