New COVID-19 Testing Center for Healthcare Workers Opens in Brooklyn
A new COVID-19 testing site for healthcare and essential workers opened today at Medgar Evers College.
Mayor de Blasio announced during this morning’s press conference that 10 new COVID-19 testing sites would be opening soon. Five of these sites, including the site at Medgar Evers College, are in partnership with private healthcare organization One Medical, and will provide 3,500 tests weekly to frontline 1199SEIU healthcare workers, as well as essential workers such as adult care center employees and those who work with people with disabilities. New York residents aged 65 years or older and have preexisting conditions are also eligible for testing at the site.
Healthcare workers are highly vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, evident from the over 900 public hospital staffers who have tested positive for the virus, The City reported Wednesday. That number does not include the workers sent home to self-quarantine after displaying symptoms without being tested. NYC Health + Hospitals has issued a new requirement that medical staff must provide documentation for both COVID-19-related and other types of sick leave, starting on the first day of leave, rather than on day three, as was previously customary. This means that free COVID-19 testing for these workers is especially crucial.
“Helping New Yorkers get back to work and back to life is going to require broadly-available testing for COVID-19,” said One Medical Chief Medical Officer, Andrew Diamond. “At One Medical, we’re offering safe and convenient testing to as many people as possible in cities across the U.S. Our partnership with the City of New York highlights our love for this community and helps us deliver an essential service during a time of unprecedented need.”
All of the One Medical testing sites are open from 9 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday.
Testing is by appointment only. Those who wish to get tested should call 1-888-ONEMED1, or sign up at onemedical.com and use code NYCCARE30. A drive-through testing site also opened last week in the Sears parking lot, at 2307 Beverly Road in Flatbush. An additional site opened today at Gotham Health at 2094 Pitkin Avenue in East New York. Call 311 to make appointments to be tested at those locations.
You can also get tested at BMS Family Health and Wellness Centers’ main location at 592 Rockaway Avenue. For this location, call the NYS Department of Health COVID-19 hotline, 888-364-3065, to make an appointment.
We previously stated that NYC Health + Hospitals requires that hospital staff test positive for COVID-19 in order to receive paid leave, which is incorrect.
