NYC Conducts 250K Coronavirus Tests In A Week, De Blasio Says

NEW YORK CITY — New York City conducted 250,000 coronavirus tests in a week — a milestone reached as the virus surges in several new hotspots and threatens to spread wider.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new testing high on Thursday along with other achievements. Turnaround times for results stand at two days for citywide and urgent care facility, and one day for Health + Hospitals locations, he said.

"We need more and more testing than ever," he said.

The testing high spanned Sept. 30 and Oct. 6 as concerns mounted over coronavirus clusters in Brooklyn and Queens. Those areas are now under three-zone areas with varying degrees of lockdowns and restrictions.

State and city officials hope to contain the virus in those areas. There appears to be little bleed out so far — the city's coronavirus positivity rate stands at 1.56 percent on a seven-day average.

That percentage has remained mostly steady but another measure — new cases on a seven-day average — has ticked up. It now stands at 525, just below a 550-case threshold the city set as a "warning light," said Jay Varma, the mayor's senior advisor on public health.

Varma said the city will keep track of the cases but stressed officials are looking at several different measurements.

COVID-19 cases in the city's clusters account for about 25 percent of its cases, officials said.

Also on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the entire state hit a testing record. There were 145,000 tests conducted on Wednesday, he said.