NEW YORK — The city is set to open seven of its own COVID-19 testing sites next week, including two newly announced sites in Queens.
Starting Monday, a site at Culture Lab in Long Island City will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and a site at Beach Channel Education Campus in Far Rockaway will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced Friday night. Both sites will offer free PCR tests.
Five more city-run sites are also scheduled to open Monday:
- St. Mary's Rec Center in the Bronx
- Canarsie High School in Brooklyn
- McCarren Rec Center in Brooklyn
- Marta Valle Secondary School in Manhattan
- Port Richmond High School on Staten Island
‼️ This Monday, 12/27: Hey #Queens ❗ @NYCHealthSystem is opening TWO brick & mortar COVID-19 testing sites in Far Rockaway and Long Island City. Save the date and don't hesitate. Get tested.
— Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (@QnsBPRichards) December 24, 2021
More info below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/CNVzdR3CTw
And the state is set to open testing locations at two major subway hubs Monday: at Times Square-42nd Street, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at Grand Central Terminal from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. The sites will not be open on New Year’s Day.
Between the new test sites and the increasing use of at-home rapid tests, the city will soon hit about 200,000 tests per day, said Dr. Ted Long, who leads the city’s Test and Trace program. Tests conducted by city-run sites account for about a quarter of current testing capacity, Long said.
Yet the added testing capacity comes as CityMD, a chain of urgent care clinics, said it was temporarily shutting down 13 locations across every borough besides Staten Island. The company said the closures were meant to avoid staffing shortages at other locations, which are seeing high demand for tests.
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