Burlington County opens county’s first drive-through virus testing site

Burlington County opened the county’s first coronavirus drive-through testing site on Thursday.

News 12 Staff

Mar 26, 2020, 10:38 PM

Updated 1,491 days ago

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Burlington County opened the county’s first coronavirus drive-through testing site on Thursday.
The drive-through is set up at the county’s emergency training center. Officials say that it is different from other testing sites in New Jersey. Patients must be from Burlington and must make an appointment first. First responders and health care workers from outside of the county are also welcomed. A pre-screening will also ensure that only symptomatic patients will be tested.
“The labs that do this testing, there’s a lot of demand for these materials and they are rationing out these testing kits as we use them,” says Burlington County Health Director Dr. Herb Conaway. “So, when we present to them 160 or 200 tests, we will get 200 kits from them and we will do another day of testing.”
Camden County’s site in Blackwood is currently on hold. County officials say that they are having trouble getting personal protective equipment for volunteers. They are also having an issue getting testing kits.
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The Camden County testing site will open once the equipment is received. But officials say that all health care systems in the county are testing for COVID-19. Burlington County and Camden County have the most cases of coronavirus in South Jersey.
Conaway says that there is a plan in place for if the county needs more hospital beds.
“If the need arises, we should be able to bring on sufficient capacity,” he says.
The Burlington County site will reopen again on Monday. Officials say that appointments are filling up. Burlington County residents who wish to make an appointment should call 609-726-7097.
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