Governor Cuomo Announces Five New COVID-19 Testing Facilities in Minority Communities Downstate

Announces "New York Loves" Effort to Coordinate All Foundations, Philanthropies, Not-for-Profits, Charities and Other Entities that Want to Help or Donate to the State

Asks New Yorkers Who Have Recovered from Virus to Donate Blood

Governor Will Issue Executive Order to Bring in Additional Funeral Directors to Help with High Number of Deaths

Confirms 10,621 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 159,937; New Cases in 55 Counties


 

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced five new testing facilities downstate, primarily in minority communities. A drive-through mobile testing facility will open at the Sears Parking Lot at 2307 Beverly Road in Brooklyn tomorrow at 12:30 p.m., and a drive-through mobile testing facility opened at the Club House at Aqueduct Race Track Parking Lot, 110-00 Rockaway Blvd, in Queens on Monday April 6th. In addition, the state is opening three walk-in facilities at health care centers in the South Bronx; Jamaica, Queens; and in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The walk-in facilities will open next week and will be by appointment only.

The state has opened nine testing facilities to date. The sites will prioritize tests for individuals that are among the highest risk population. Residents who would like to be tested at these facilities must make an appointment by calling 888-364-3065.

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The Governor also announced the "New York Loves" effort to coordinate all foundations, philanthropies, not-for-profits, charities and other entities that want to help or donate to the state during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. New York Secretary of State Rosanna Rosado and State Director of Nonprofits Fran Barrett will coordinate this effort and any resources that are collected, and will work with local governments that need additional help.

The Governor is also asking all New Yorkers who have recovered from COVID-19 to contact the state and donate blood. Individuals who have recovered from the virus may have convalescent plasma in their blood, which has antibodies against the virus and could help with the development of a treatment for the virus. More information about how to donate is available here.

We are going to increase testing and open new testing sites to collect more data in African-American and Latino communities

Governor Cuomo

Governor Cuomo will also issue an Executive Order to bring additional funeral directors to New York to help with the high number of deaths due to COVID-19.

"Our efforts to reduce the spread of the virus through social distancing are working better than we expected because people are complying with them," Governor Cuomo said. "Rapid testing and increasing our testing capacity is going to be the bridge to the new economy and restarting, but we also need to make sure we are learning the lessons of what we're going through now because we haven't finished going through it yet. We are going to increase testing and open new testing sites to collect more data in African-American and Latino communities so we can better understand why this virus kills and has higher fatality rates in certain communities, and what we can do to address it."

 

Finally, the Governor confirmed 10,621 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 159,937 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 159,937 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

379

37

Allegany

22

1

Broome

105

17

Cattaraugus

17

2

Cayuga

16

2

Chautauqua

18

1

Chemung

59

4

Chenango

55

2

Clinton

40

1

Columbia

70

7

Cortland

16

0

Delaware

37

0

Dutchess

1493

98

Erie

1362

157

Essex

8

1

Franklin

11

1

Fulton

15

1

Genesee

56

9

Greene

28

3

Hamilton

3

1

Herkimer

32

3

Jefferson

42

2

Lewis

6

0

Livingston

26

1

Madison

91

1

Monroe

698

47

Montgomery

28

10

Nassau

20140

1592

Niagara

146

12

NYC

87028

5225

Oneida

158

33

Onondaga

358

11

Ontario

43

4

Orange

4090

225

Orleans

22

6

Oswego

36

3

Otsego

39

1

Putnam

438

35

Rensselaer

79

4

Rockland

6665

252

Saratoga

172

10

Schenectady

167

18

Schoharie

12

0

Schuyler

4

0

Seneca

15

3

St. Lawrence

76

7

Steuben

89

7

Suffolk

17413

1569

Sullivan

294

15

Tioga

17

5

Tompkins

105

6

Ulster

460

38

Warren

40

7

Washington

25

5

Wayne

39

0

Westchester

17004

1117

Wyoming

29

2

Yates

1

0

B
Submitted by Brewster, NY

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