Update, May 9, 7 a.m.: A Covid-19 testing site is expected to begin operation at parking lots by the ball fields on Pantigo Place in East Hampton on Friday, May 15, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced on Friday.
The testing site will be open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and will be a joint effort of Hudson River Health Care and the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation.
Hudson River Health Care offers tests at the recently opened site adjacent to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, which operates on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tests will be available by appointment at 845-553-8030 to those with Covid-19 symptoms or those who have been in contact with someone positive for Covid-19 and to workers identified as eligible for tests by New York State. Those include health care workers, first responders, and employees who directly interact with the public, such as food service workers, delivery persons, and human services providers. The full list is available at online by clicking here.
Insurance will be accepted. Those who are uninsured and cannot afford the cost of the diagnostic test may be tested for free.
Bilingual staff will be on hand, and tests will be provided to those eligible regardless of immigration status.
“We’re extremely excited about this,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said in announcing the news on LTV's “Facts @ Five” program on Friday afternoon. “Initially, there weren’t enough tests to have more than one site in all of Suffolk County,” at Stony Brook University. Testing has since scaled up, and the number of testing sites has increased. “So we’re now at a point where we can have this in East Hampton,” he said. “It will be able to serve our residents locally, to have a better understanding of how widespread the disease is. We will be able to tell folks they have it, and to quarantine.”
The statement issued on Friday evening also referred to Suffolk County’s initiative to hire contact tracers, who are charged with tracking those with whom an infected person has had contact. Information is available here.
“That will be a very important job,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. “We want to try to figure out who infected people may have come in contact with.”
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The article has been updated since it was originally posted.