AtlantiCare, Atlantic County open drive-thru
NORTHFIELD — With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 rapidly spreading across the country, the U.S. is now averaging more than 700,000 new cases per day.
To help deal with the increase, in collaboration with AtlantiCare, Atlantic County opened a drive-thru test facility Monday in the county’s Public Works Yard at Dolphin and Harvey avenues in Northfield.
The site will offer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic adults and children. Appointment hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays (no testing Jan. 17 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day). Appointments are required for each person in a vehicle and individuals must provide identification at their scheduled testing time.
“We are grateful for the support of AtlantiCare in helping us provide this drive-thru testing facility that will serve to better meet the current demand for testing and alleviate some of the stress on other locations,” Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson stated in a news release about the opening. “I encourage our residents to take advantage of this free public service to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect themselves, their families and our community.”
“I’m very happy that the county has decided to reopen COVID testing on Dolphin Avenue,” Northfield Mayor Erland Chau said. “The numbers are going up and that is a big concern on my part.”
On Monday, New Jersey reported another 29 deaths and 21,691 positive cases, with hospitalizations topping 6,000 patients.
The state’s seven-day average for new cases increased to 27,914, up 19 percent from the week prior and 693 percent from a month ago, according to state Health Department data.
According to the Atlantic County Department of Health, in the week ending Sunday, Jan. 9, there were 799 new cases of COVID-19 among 333 males ages 3 months to 90 years and 466 females ages 1 day to 92 years.
The new cases included 27 in Somers Point, 25 in Linwood and 22 in Northfield. Egg Harbor Township led the county with 142 cases, followed by Galloway Township (108), Pleasantville (100), Hamilton Township (76), Hammonton (73), Atlantic City (71), Ventnor (24), Absecon (22), Buena Vista Township (20), Mullica Township (20), Egg Harbor City (17), Brigantine (15), Buena Borough (12), Estell Manor (7), Margate and Port Republic (5 each), Folsom (4), Weymouth Township (3) and Corbin City (1).
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, there have been 47,067 cases in the county with 807 deaths and 18,799 cleared of isolation.
So far, Somers Point has had 1,566 cases and 20 deaths, Linwood has had 1,038 cases and 32 deaths and Northfield has had 1,454 cases and 42 deaths.
Individuals seeking a testing appointment should register online at atlanticare.org/drivethrutest, where results will be available 48 to 72 hours after testing.
AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Chief Operating Officer Larisa Goganzer said they anticipate being able to test 300 people a day.
“We continue to urge members of our community to be vaccinated and get the booster, to follow all COVID-19 precautions and to seek care in the most appropriate setting,” Goganzer said. “It is important that we embrace these steps to protect each other during this time of exceedingly high community spread.”
Scheduling capacity and test result time are subject to change.
The county had previously partnered with AtlantiCare for a drive-thru test facility before vaccines became available. Once vaccines were offered, the demand for testing decreased sharply. But now that cases are on the rise and include breakthrough cases among those who have been vaccinated, the demand for testing has increased. Testing is also required by many employers for employees who are not vaccinated.
“Response has been tremendous,” Gilmore said.
Drivers pull up to the facility, check in to ensure they are registered — proof of identification is required — and then proceed toward the testing site, where they get the test kit, self-swab and return the test to AtlantiCare staff members, who were available to provide guidance and ensure everything is labeled and handled properly.
Gilmore said they schedule eight to nine appointments every 10 minutes, or about 48 an hour, with plans to administer 300 tests per day. She stressed the need for an individual appointment for each person in the vehicle and for people to drive up only when it’s their scheduled time.
“We are trying to alleviate the traffic in the neighborhood, so individuals should come a few minutes before their scheduled time and we’ll move them right through,” said Kara Janson, acting director of the county Division of Public Health.
Janson said it’s important to offer testing for many reasons.
“Testing helps us with finding out what the transmission rate is in the county and helps us identify who needs to isolate and quarantine. A lot of people need it for their job or a medical procedure. They may need it because they had a close contact and they want to make sure they follow isolation and quarantine guidelines. There are a lot of reasons why people need to be tested right now and we want to make sure they have an opportunity to do that,” Janson said.
Michael Heck, director of infection prevention for AtlantiCare, said vaccination and masking are the most effective methods to prevent the spread of the disease.
“The best thing people can do is to wear a mask whenever they are around anybody they don’t live with,” Heck said. “Getting vaccinated — please consider vaccination. People who are vaccinated are a lot less likely to need to be hospitalized due to COVID. We do have plenty of people, unfortunately, who need to be hospitalized and most of them are unvaccinated.”
Many employers and medical care facility have testing requirements, but other do not, leaving people to decide for themselves whether they should be tested. Medical experts think that leads to a lot of people mixing with others without knowing their status.
“If somebody has had a high-risk exposure — meaning they were exposed to somebody at home, at work, in the community who is known to be positive — one of the best things is to be tested about four or five days after that exposure, not before that. Too soon leads to false positives,” Heck said. “If you have had high-risk exposure, consider quarantining up until the point when you are tested and get a negative result.”
Janson said public school require multiple vaccinations to attend and that the COVID-19 vaccine is no different.
“When it comes to public health, vaccines are the way we are going to be able to address this pandemic — get vaccinated, reduce your risk for getting the virus in the first place, reduce your risk for needing hospitalization or developing severe illness,” she said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff