SEE: Bed-Stuy Salon Turns Into Pop-Up Coronavirus Test Site

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A stop at the salon came with a free coronavirus test for neighbors in Bed-Stuy on Thursday.

New York City's Test & Trace Corps turned Etta Salon on Gates Avenue into a one-day mobile test site as part of the task force's efforts to expand access to coronavirus tests as New Yorkers work toward staving off a potential second wave of the virus.

The one-day site brought self-swab tests to an outdoor table in front of the salon, along with free gift cards to those who showed up first.

“We need to be fast and flexible as we work to fight back the second wave of COVID-19, and mobile self-test sites allow us to deploy quickly and make an impact across our neighborhoods in a short amount of time,” said NYC Test & Trace Corps Executive Director Dr. Ted Long. “We thank Etta Salon for stepping up to host a mobile self-test site, and engaging their Bedford-Stuyvesant community in this crucial effort with us.”

Etta Salon owner Rachel Grunau said she saw the pop-up test site as a way to give back to her community. The first 25 people who showed up to be tested in the six-hour window were given free gift cards to the salon.

“Everyone deserves access to easy, safe, and at no cost to them testing, close to home,” Grunau said.

NYC's Test & Trace Corps told Patch they hope to replicate the model of using local partners to set up mobile testing sites in the future. The sites can be found on the city's COVID Test Finder.

The new pop-up sites will include self-swab tests for those ages 4 and up and results by email within 48 hours.

Anyone who tests positive will be contacted by phone to receive the full range of free services they need to monitor their health and that of their loved ones, including resources to safely separate. Participation is confidential, and open to all regardless of immigration status, according to the city.

The expanded test sites come at a crucial point for New Yorkers' fight against a second wave of the virus. The city's overall seven-day average positivity rate was 2.6 percent on Thursday, just a small margin away from the 3-percent threshold that would require a shutdown of public schools.

In Bed-Stuy in particular, coronavirus rates have remained steady or worsened in recent months. Parts of the neighborhood were put on a coronavirus watchlist by health officials in September.