Nassau Opens Rapid COVID Testing Site To Fight 5 Towns Cluster

LAWRENCE, NY — In an effort to combat a spike in coronavirus cases in the area, Nassau County and Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital today opened up a drive-through rapid testing center at the Five Towns Community Center to help drive down the rate of infection.

The Five Towns currently has the highest positivity rate in the county, according to officials, with an infection rate three to four times higher than the county average. However, that is down from a few weeks ago, when the rate was seven or eight times higher than the county average.

"We're making sure we're doing every thing we can to keep the community safe and stay on track for opening," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said.

The Five Towns has been identified as a cluster, and is facing tighter restrictions. The area was caught up in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new cluster initiative after a bigger outbreak in Queens, and the Lawrence School District was forced to move to distance learning.

The rapid testing site at the Five Towns Community Center, located at 270 Lawrence Ave. in Lawrence, is designed to combat those spikes. The county will also soon be opening a second testing site in the area, at the Five Towns JCC, in the coming days. Once that site is opened, testing will rotate between the two sites every week.

The drive-through testing center is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 7 to 11 a.m. It is closed on Sundays. Test kits and equipment are being provided by the state.

Dr. Aaron Glatt, the chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, encouraged anyone who thinks they may be sick to get a test.

"This is a vicious virus. This is the most vicious illness we've had to face," said Glatt, who has three decades of experience in infectious diseases. "It's also the one we know the least about."

Glatt added that they are calling on peoples' "innate goodness" to get themselves tested if they think they may have the virus, and not potentially spread it to others, which could kill them.

Though the Five Towns, which has a large Orthodox Jewish population, is currently a cluster in the county, officials stressed that the virus does not discriminate, and is not only affecting the Orthodox community.

"We've seen cases in the Orthodox communities that live here, but we're not going to say it's from compliance issues," said Dr. Larry Eisenstein, the Nassau County commissioner of health, adding that cases have popped up all over the county following large gatherings. "It's not from one community or another. It's the nature of disease and how it's being spread right now."

Eisenstein added that the county is planning on opening up more drive-through testing sites in the coming weeks, but did not say where.