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Gov. Andrew Cuomo was flanked by some of New York's top health officials in New Rochelle on Friday, March 13 to introduce the public to the state’s first “drive-through” COVID-19 testing center.
It was up and running as Cuomo started arrived shortly before 10:30 a.m.
The new mobile testing site at Glen Island Park includes include six lanes for area residents to drive in, get tested in their car by doctors or nurses, and then drive away within 15 minutes, Cuomo said.
Cuomo noted that those looking to get tested cannot just show up at the mobile testing facility, and will have to call 888-364-3065 to set up an appointment. New Rochelle residents are given first priority, especially those who are older or have respiratory issues.
Those tests will then be sent to a lab to determine whether the patient is positive for coronavirus without risking exposure to patients or hospital staff.
- Earlier report: Pop-Up COVID-19 Testing Center In New Rochelle Park Is First Of Its Kind In New York State
It is expected that the mobile lab will have the capacity to test approximately 200 to 250 cars daily. The results will be returned within 48 hours, Cuomo noted.
“This is a creative way of testing, this ‘drive-through’ testing,” he said. “I hadn’t heard of this last week, but we’re doing it this week thanks to the team we have around us. “It’s faster and easier, and also smarter and safer because you’re not exposing people to a person who may be positive at a hospital.
"Until now, if someone thought they were positive, they’d walk into a hospital and expose staff members and patients, now we can avoid that.
“It’s safer and there’s a lot less exposure overall.”
Michael Dowling, the CEO and President of Northwell Health called the facility “unique,” adding that “it shows the entrepreneurship in New York that we have to be able to do something that I don’t think is around anywhere at the moment. It’s unique and pretty extraordinary.”
Cuomo said that the mobile lab will prioritize New Rochelle residents, which is “the largest cluster of coronavirus cases in the country,” as well as the most vulnerable population, which includes seniors, those with compromised immune systems and those with underlying illnesses.
The facility will be open “as long as it needs to be open.”
“It will be open for the trajectory of the disease, and I don’t believe this is going to be a short term issue. I believe it will be a matter of months and people should start to calibrate their expectations,” Cuomo said. “This could be a six, seven, eight, nine-month issue. This is not going to be over in a couple of weeks.”
“In times of crisis, you see what people are made of,” he said. “You see the good and the bad and these doctors and nursing here (at the facility) are showing us their best.”
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