New York City is adding additional testing capacity to cope with demand, and hospitals are banning travel as the virus spreads rapidly, officials said on Wednesday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city was adding seven additional city-run COVID-19 testing sites – bringing the total to 119 city-run locations – and adding an additional five sites for the sole purpose of offering at-home testing kits. adding up. Join Thursday.
It comes as the head of NYC’s 11 public hospitals says they are restricting visitors after an “outbreak” they believe is linked to a visitor.
De Blasio said the 119 test sites include fixed sites and mobile distribution around five cities.
At city-run test locations, de Blasio says, “many of them thankfully don’t have huge lines and are very good at getting you quick turnaround times.”
These locations are in addition to partner and private sites. The goal is to reduce lines, he said.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer said he is sending a letter to FEMA requesting 100 more COVID-19 mobile testing sites for New York.
Health + Hospitals CEO Mitch Katz acknowledged “some challenges in meeting demand” with regards to testing.
“Today we are extending the timings at all our health and hospital sites from 7 am to 7 pm,” he said.
He said that going virtual for ambulatory care visits has made it possible for clinic nurses and staff to be available in testing areas.
Katz also said that he has secured a significant number of test kits to distribute to those who feel comfortable testing at home.
For the temporary period, the city’s 11 public hospitals will also be “strict about restricting visitors,” Katz said.
“There’s been an outbreak in one of our hospitals recently, which we think is related to visitors, certainly not their fault, because there’s so much transmission happening now in NYC because of Omicron, and so little Later.” So, when we get the situation under control, we’re going to have limited visitation,” Katz said.
Some exceptions would be made, he said, for women in labor who would be able to bring someone with them.
He also mentioned the condition of hospice for end of life and family permission would be given in case of sick children.
“To make sure we don’t cause more disease, we need to limit the number of visitors,” Katz said.