COVID testing: Dover site to open, at-home tests available; What to know to get a test

Journal staff
·3 min read

Eastern Dutchess County will soon have a free county-run testing site, and residents around Dutchess will have several more opportunities to pick up at-home test kits in the next week.

There are also several upcoming vaccine clinics that will offer pediatric doses in addition to adult.

The county announced plans to open a test site that will operate twice a week for three weeks at the former CVS location at 3081 Route 22 in Dover Plains. The site will open Jan. 25 and operate Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m. through Feb. 11. Walk-ins are welcome but preregistration is encouraged through the portal available at the county’s site, dutchessny.gov/coronavirustesting.

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Rapid antigen and PCR lab testing will both be administered, and the site will be run by Senergene Solutions, the testing partner the county brought on earlier this month after reports of lab results taking more than a week to be returned to residents. The county said lab results from the Dover site will take up to 48 hours from when the lab receives the sample, but that timeframe can vary.

The county’s existing test site at the Poughkeepsie Galleria’s former JC Penney is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Testing is also available through numerous pharmacies, urgent care facilities and medial offices around the region.

Take-home tests

Dutchess also announced it would be giving away roughly 10,000 at-home testing kits, each of which will include two tests. They are available to Dutchess residents, only, and limited to two kits per family or vehicle.

The giveaways follow two instances in the past month in which the county supplied test kits to individual municipalities to distribute.

The giveaways, on a first-come, first-served basis, include:

  • On Sunday, test kits will be available on a walk-up basis from 10 a.m. to noon at the Poughkeepsie Galleria’s former JC Penney site on the lower level;

  • On Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. there will be a drive-thru distribution at Dover High School;

  • On Friday, Jan. 28 from 4 to 7 p.m. there will be a drive-thru distribution at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck.

In addition, state Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson announced a drive-thru test distribution 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27 at the Family Partnership Center, 29 North Hamilton St., in the City of Poughkeepsie. Each vehicle will receive two test kits as supplies allow.

Pediatric vaccine clinics

Neal Smoller and Village Apothecary in Woodstock is holding several vaccine distribution clinics in the next week at sites around the Mid Hudson Valley. Pediatric shots for ages 5-11 will be available in addition to all brands and doses for adults.

The list of clinics, all from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., include:

  • Friday, Rombout Middle School in Beacon

  • Tuesday, Arlington Central Administration office in LaGrangeville

  • Wednesday, Highland Elementary School

  • Thursday, the former CVS location at 3081 Route 22 in Dover Plains

  • Friday, Jan. 28, Pawling Elementary School

  • Wednesday, Feb. 2, Haviland Middle School in Hyde Park

Preregistration is required and can be accessed at drnealsmoller.com/kids/.

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: COVID testing in Dutchess: How to get a kit; Dover test site to open