Coronavirus: New York City Opens its first drive-thru coronavirus testing site
New York City’s first
coronavirus testing site is located at a drive-thru facility in Staten Island,
there is one basic rule though, which is to keep your car windows closed. These
tests were advertised as by appointment only. But this didn’t stop Muhammad
Qureshi from getting his nose swabbed.
Muhammad Qureshi while explaining
the process said that:
“They just go up your nostrils and it’s like a two-second process. The testing area, the hot zone, is a cordoned-off area, but it’s fine. They said they would call with the results within two, three days. We’re fine but we’re in the retail business and she’s diabetic, so we just wanted to get tested.”
Qureshi drove up to the site with his
wife, Rubab Abid, Vehicles were lined up in the parking lot of the South
Beach Psychiatric Center, near Staten Island University Hospital North, here nurses
are in full Tyvek suits and collected information in an area called the “hot
zone.” High-risk and symptomatic patients are prioritised.
The state’s Department of
Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos added that:
“Things are going smoothly so far. It’s all hands on deck. No windows down until you get all the way to the swab itself and then its windows back up. We have stern site safety, strict site security. We have safety operators in site patrolling and looking for any violations.”
The test includes a nasal swab
that must go all the way up a patient’s nose. Experts have said the process can
be invasive and sore, but it is way simple and quick.
This is the third testing
site in New York state. The other two are located in New Rochelle, Westchester
County and Jones Beach, Long Island.
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