'It's very frustrating.' People with appointments show up to unopened COVID testing site in Hauppauge

The IBEW Local 25 on Motor Parkway in Hauppauge is scheduled to open Wednesday, but people started showing up at 6:45 a.m. with confirmed appointments for today.

News 12 Staff

Dec 27, 2021, 10:42 AM

Updated 1,114 days ago

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There was massive confusion at one of Long Island's newly announced COVID-19 testing sites early Monday.
The IBEW Local 25 on Motor Parkway in Hauppauge is scheduled to open Wednesday, which is what New York state had publicized, but people started showing up at 6:45 a.m. with confirmed appointments for Monday.
They had confirmation emails, text messages and even QR codes for appointments at a facility that still had not opened.
"It's very frustrating," said Lake Grove resident Janet Schneck. "Just nobody can get anything right. I don't understand, I don't understand it. It's literally driving me crazy."
An online portal to make appointments for COVID-19 testing at 13 new locations across New York launched Monday, but neither of the two Long Island locations are not set to open until Wednesday.
Long Island's positivity rate is more than 15%.
Many urgent care centers had lines that were hourslong, and some said getting any testing appointment was like winning the lottery.
Additional state testing spots were supposed to help, but some figured getting an appointment on what they thought was day one was too good to be true.
"I was like, 'Well, the website says Wednesday. This had appointments Monday. We'll just go ahead and see,'" said Zakhia Grant, of Wyandanch.
Sami Petrucci, of Smithtown, is an actress who needed a PCR test so that she can work.
"I'm in a show and I need it by Wednesday, so I was really hoping to get it," Petrucci said.
People had the same problem in Hemsptead at Memorial Park on Greenwich Street, the other new state site that is also opening on Wednesday.
People leaving the Suffolk facility Monday said they don't know if their confirmed appointments will be honored on another day.
BioReference Laboratories, the company running the site, issued a response to the confusion:
"While the announcement from Governor Hochul’s office stated that appointment scheduling will open today to make appointments for Wednesday, December 29, BioReference Laboratories is aware that appointments became available for today and tomorrow, by mistake. In response to the patient demand for COVID-19 testing, BioReference is offering Scarlet Health, an on-location service that comes to patients’ homes and/or workplace to collect COVID-19 specimens, for those who scheduled appointments today and tomorrow. Appointments for COVID-19 testing at the defined New York sites will open as scheduled for Wednesday, December 29."