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City opens COVID-19 antibody testing site in Long Island City

Rapid covid-19 strip Test
Photo via Getty Images

The city opened a free community antibody testing facility in Long Island City Monday.

The site, located at 34-09 Queens Blvd., will administer the tests to 1,000 people per day, by appointment only.

“So many New Yorkers are wondering whether they’ve had the virus, or if they’ve exposed their own families,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “While antibody tests are not a fix-all solution, they will give our communities the knowledge they need to help us defeat this virus together.”

The city has opened one location in each of the five boroughs, including the Long Island City facility, with more locations set to open in June. Antibody testing results will be available in 24 to 48 hours.

The city is partnering with BioReference Labs to test approximately 70,000 New Yorkers over two weeks. Capacity is expected to build to 5,000 tests per day.

“BioReference is supporting the city in its epidemiology studies of the presence of COVID-19 throughout large segments of the New York City population,” said BioReference Laboratories Executive Chairman Jon Cohen, M.D. “For New York City, a city that has been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this type of information will be of great value in helping healthcare professionals to analyze the presence and progression of the disease in order to identify at-risk populations for possible early interventions.”

The test looks for the presence of antibodies in the blood of a specific protein created when the body responds to infection.

The mayor said the more information the city can collect about who has been infected, the more it can learn and respond to the ongoing crisis.

“We’re really killing two birds with one stone,” de Blasio said. “The individual gets something they need, but the healthcare leadership, the scientists, they get the information they need to do the research better to answer the questions about the disease.”

You can make an appointment by calling 888-279-0967 or by visiting the BioReference website here.