Camden County Opens 3 New Coronavirus Test Sites

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ — There will soon be six coronavirus testing sites in Camden County as the number of new coronavirus cases continues to spike in the region and across the country, officials announced on Tuesday.

Three new walk-up testing sites opened in Camden County on Wednesday. They opened at community schools in Camden City, where there have been 5,467 cases and 97 deaths since the pandemic began, according to numbers provided by the Camden County Department of Health.

These sites will be run by Cooper University Health Care in conjunction with the county, the county health department, and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers.

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These sites will complement two heavily traveled drive-up coronavirus testing sites on the Cherry Hill Campus of Camden County College and on the Cooper University Health Care campus in Camden. As cases continue to rise in the county and state, these new sites are testing more than 900 residents a day for the coronavirus.

The county will also open a sixth coronavirus testing site at the Camden County Department of Public Works in Lindenwold within the next week, officials said Tuesday morning.

“These new testing sites will provide more options for our residents who need access and opportunity to testing in specific zip codes,” Camden County Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. “Thousands of county residents are getting tested every day, but we know that the easier you make this resource the more probable it is the community to take advantage of it. Furthermore, these new testing sites are in impacted neighborhoods that have more health disparities and vulnerabilities than other parts of the county and a greater need.”

The three sites in Camden City will not require an appointment, and each site will operate on a different day of the week. The hours for these sites have been updated, and they will be opened as follows:

• Mondays- Veterans Memorial School will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The school is in the Cramer Hill neighborhood located at 800 N 26th St, Camden, 08105.
• Wednesdays- Cooper Poynt School will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The school is in the North Camden neighborhood and located at 201 State St, Camden, 08102.
• Thursdays- Dr. Charles Brimm Medical Arts High School will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The school is in the Whitman Park neighborhood located at 1626 Copewood St, Camden, 08103.

“The Camden City School District is honored to partner with Cooper University Health Care in conjunction with the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Camden County Health Department and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers on this critical project. I am pleased that the school district can play an active role in helping to minimize the spread of COVID-19 by offering additional testing sites within our schools,” Camden Superintendent of Schools Katrina McCombs said. “It is my hope that utilizing our school buildings as testing sites will provide our families, as well as the community at-large, with a sense of comfort and familiarity. In addition, as a district we will continue to use every mechanism at our disposal to remind our students, staff and families of the importance of wearing masks, frequent hand-washing, and social distancing. Finally, I encourage everyone to get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.”

The Camden County College site located at 1889 Marlton Pike East in Cherry Hill (the corner of Springdale Road and Route 70) operates Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The Cooper Campus site at the corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard operates on the same schedule. All test sites will be closed Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan. 1.

The mobile testing sites in both Cherry Hill and Camden City are open to county residents and meet other criteria (exposure, pending surgery/procedure, travel, school, work, or daycare requirements). For more information or to schedule an appointment at these sites, call (856) 968-7100 or email covid19swabsite@cooperhealth.edu.

"As COVID-19 cases in Camden rise, it is critical that we make testing accessible and responsive to the community’s needs,” Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Noonan said. “We are proud to work with Camden County and Cooper University Health Care on this data-driven and person-centered approach to COVID-19 testing."

“Given the recent spikes in the number of new COVID-19 positive cases in the community we feel it is our obligation to open additional COVID-19 walk-up testing sites, so we may serve more people in the city of Camden and help reduce the spread of the virus,” Cooper co-CEO Kevin O’Dowd said.

“We are fortunate to be able to provide more testing sites for everyone who needs it, but the best way to protect yourself and those around you is to wear masks in public, avoid places where you cannot physically distance from others, and wash your hands often so you won’t need a test,” Cooper co-CEO Anthony Mazzarelli said.

The Camden County Department of Public Works is located at 2311 Egg Harbor Road in Lindenwold. When that site opens, residents will be able to schedule an appointment at www.camdencounty.com and the site will operate with the Rutgers University saliva test. The site will be open on Tuesday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Officials said more information on that site will be provided later this week.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with Cooper and the Coalition to provide numerous community-based COVID-19 testing sites to serve the needs of the citizens of Camden County,” Cappelli said. “As the entire country and state continue to respond to the second COVID-19 surge, it remains imperative that county residents have access and opportunity to testing. This initiative combined with social distancing and other mitigation factors will help us break the back of this virus.”

Camden County’s coronavirus testing sites are also going to have other resources from the Camden County Health Department as well. Masks will be provided along with educational material going over the basics of staying safe during the pandemic.