New Jersey Residents Hoping To Get Tested For COVID-19 Before Thanksgiving Frustrated By Long Lines At Testing Sites
ROCHELLE PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Long lines remain at COVID-19 testing locations throughout New Jersey as people rush to confirm a negative result before Thanksgiving.
Frustrations are mounting as people ask the state to set up more locations.
"We knew surge was going to be worse. We should have been more prepared," Saddle River resident Aleen Frasca told CBS2's Meg Baker.
Wednesday was her third attempt this week to get tested at the Rochelle Park Imaging Center. She went there because the privately owned facility offers a 15-minute rapid test, something not every site offers.
Frasca is frustrated the state and county didn't offer more testing ahead of Thanksgiving. Many other testing locations are overwhelmed, too.
"There should be been more availability. They should have been more proactive in addressing it," Frasca said.
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Some people in line said they arrived before 6 a.m.
There were more than 100 people waiting before the doors opened, hoping they would make the day's cut for a test. First, they had to sign in, then they had to wait a few more hours for a test.
"This is outrageous because everyone knew for months that the numbers were climbing up, for weeks the numbers have been climbing up, and so the governors of both New York and New Jersey haven't done anything to do something proactive to get more testing, to get mass testing," New Jersey resident Albert Lewitinn said.
Steven Conte is the administrator of the Rochelle Park Imaging Center.
"We try to get in as many patients as we physically can, but also the testing supplies for rapid testing are short, so therefore there are some days where we don't have the supplies," he said.
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Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco says help is on the way. Starting Dec. 1, the Bergen County Community College site will open back up for drive-thru testing for county residents.
"We've decided is to do it underneath the parking deck here at Bergen Community College, so that we're out of the snow and the rain and everything. And then the people will line up on the top of the deck. No one will be out on the roadway anymore. And then they'll come in and get swabbed in here. This is a rapid test," Tedesco said.
For now, federal CARES money will help pay for this, but when that money runs out, it will be tax payer funded.
The county executive says when the vaccine becomes available, the drive-thru site will flip to a vaccination center.
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