Brooklyn NYCHA Residents Get Two Free Coronavirus Testing Sites

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Two new, free coronavirus testing site will prioritize NYCHA residents in Brooklyn, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The first site opens Friday at Cumberland Health Center in Fort Greene, de Blasio said. Another one will open next week at or near NYCHA's Jonathan Williams facilities in Williamsburg.

De Blasio on Wednesday announced four other testing sites in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.

They all will offer free, walk-in coronavirus testing for NYCHA residents.

“NYCHA residents are the backbone of New York City, but for decades they have not received the support they deserved from all levels of government,” de Blasio said in a statement. “We refuse to continue this pattern, and this new plan will provide residents with the support they need to protect themselves and their families during this crisis."

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The announcement follows growing concerns for NYCHA residents in Brooklyn and citywide amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel last week called for a comprehensive plan to protect public housing residents while passing out protective masks in Brownsville.

Adams said de Blasio's announcement and a promise by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to deliver face masks and hand sanitizer to housing developments "couldn't come at a better time." He said NYCHA residents were often treated as an "afterthought" even before the pandemic.

"The unbelievable toll of this disease, and the fact that it has fallen hardest on vulnerable populations such as this one, are now forcing us to reckon with the true cost of this neglect," he said in a statement. "I call on the Mayor and the Governor to go even further to help NYCHA residents, by ramping up testing capacity for all developments and using the City and State’s tremendous purchasing power to expedite the delivery of PPE to all residents as soon as possible."

All the free testing locations announced by de Blasio are at or near NYCHA homes. For instance, the Cumberland Health Center site is near the Walt Whitman Houses.

A mayor's spokesperson initially tweeted that location was in Crown Heights but later clarified she meant Fort Greene.

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