Local virus test sites see surge in visits

Jan. 8—There was a steady flow of people of all ages seeking a COVID-19 test at the testing sites in Milford and Oneonta Friday, Jan. 7.

At the state-run testing site at the Milford American Legion at 86 West Main Street there were two people registering people and two people administering the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests early Friday afternoon. So far, the testing site only offers the PCR tests, but "The Point-of-Care, Rapid COVID-19 tests should be available at that location next week," Hillary Titus, External Communications at Bioreference Laboratories, said.

The Milford testing site is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays. People can schedule an appointment to get tested at the Milford site at appointments.bioreference.com/nystatecovidtesting. According to the Otsego County Department of Health, walk-ins are also allowed.

The Milford testing site opened Dec. 29 and administered 250 tests the first day Otsego County Board of Representatives Chair David Bliss, R-Cherry Valley, Middlefield, Roseboom, said last week. The site has continued to see area residents make appointments to get tested throughout the week.

Some reasons people were at the testing site in Milford were if they had symptoms, were in close contact with someone who tested positive, were traveling overseas, needed a negative test to return to work or school or were students headed back to college and needed to show a negative test.

Titus said Bioreference Laboratories, which is headquartered in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, has performed more than 1,000 COVID-19 RT-PCR molecular tests at the Milford site. The Milford testing site is one of 13 testing sites that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Dec. 24 will be set up around the state to address the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

On Jan. 3, Hochul announced 10 SUNY campuses would also set up testing sites including at the State University College at Oneonta. The site is a collaboration between the state, city of Oneonta, the Otsego County Department of Health and Syracuse-based Quadrant Biosciences, a media release said.

The testing site at SUCO opened Friday and about 100 people were tested, Associate Director of Communications, SUNY Oneonta Kim MacLeod said. MacLeod said appointments were filled by mid-morning.

"It is already serving an important purpose in the community from what we've seen on the first day," she said.

The site will be open from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Each person must register online at bit.ly/covid-test-oneonta

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.