Long Islanders frustrated by lack of available COVID testing options

Long Island are being turned away from COVID-19 testing sites and are growing worried that they won’t be able to find an appointment before the holidays.

News 12 Staff

Dec 23, 2021, 4:02 AM

Updated 999 days ago

Share:

Long Island are being turned away from COVID-19 testing sites and are growing worried that they won’t be able to find an appointment before the holidays.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do about Christmas,” says Dix Hills resident Cathy Silverman. “My daughter is pregnant. She just found out so she’s not comfortable unless we all get tested and it’s just impossible.”
Others drove around for hours searching for a test and wondering why Long Island and the country weren’t more prepared for the surge.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is also running for governor, has been warning about the issue for more tests when cases were already rising in October.
“There’s a warning flashing, ‘alarm, alarm, alarm,’” Suozzi says. “We need more testing sites.”
Rep. Kathleen Rice wrote a letter to the governor urging her to reopen a pair of mass testing sites, one at Jones Beach and the other at Stony Brook University.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, says the state didn’t need or want tests then. She says New York was focusing on vaccination and boosters because people weren’t worried about tests.
Some are turning to at-home test kits, but they are also becoming hard to find.
The governor’s office has not released any new details on when new testing sites will open but Hochul says that she ordered 5 million more at-home testing kits to address the issue.