Cape Regional Urgent Care Will Now Test Anyone For Coronavirus

MARMORA, NJ — Cape Regional Urgent Care wants everyone to get tested for the new coronavirus, even those without symptoms. Their medical director told Patch he believes they can make that happen for the foreseeable future.

Cape Regional Urgent Care now offers coronavirus testing in all of its centers in Marmora, Wildwood and Cape May Court House. They first began testing last week at their Cape May Court House site, but testing was limited to certain criteria such as age and contact with the disease. Read more: Coronavirus Testing Begins In Cape May Court House Urgent Care

They have been able to rapidly expand access for two reasons, according to Dr. John Ruskey, Cape Regional Urgent Care's medical director. Firstly, the urgent-care network has secured more tests.

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But they are also concerned about the asymptomatic population. Twenty-five percent of people with the coronavirus don't show symptoms, Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Robert Redfield told NPR.

"The 25 percent of people walking around without any symptoms, who don’t know they’re positive," Ruskey said, "those people, in my opinion, are more dangerous than people who have symptoms. They’re the ones who really need to get tested."

Cape May County has confirmed 116 cases of the virus as of Thursday, including four deaths and 15 people cleared off quarantine. But because of limited testing nationwide, it's difficult to gauge the number of people with the virus.

Ruskey believes the county's first positive case was detected at Cape Regional Urgent Care's Marmora Center. Officials announced the first case March 18. Read more: Visitor Has Cape May County's 1st Positive Coronavirus Case

"We’re very proud of that," Ruskey said. "This was three weeks ago. Imagine how many people that person may have infected."

Governor Phil Murphy announced 3,627 new cases Friday in New Jersey, raising the state total to 54,588. He also said 233 more people died, raising New Jersey's number to 1,932. Read more: Gov. Murphy: NJ Coronavirus Deaths Near 2K, Easter Warning Issued

To get tested at Cape Regional Urgent Care, call 609-465-6364 to make an appointment.

"You look at Cape May County compared to the other (New Jersey) counties," Ruskey said. "Our numbers are so much lower. We’re hoping to keep them low by getting that testing out to everybody."

Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

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