New York Governor Has Started To Order Grocery Stores To Administer Coronavirus Tests

written by: @dawnnnyy_

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has begun secretly recruiting supermarkets as an effort to “widen the state’s coronavirus testing program.”

The tests, which are being distributed at an undisclosed number of stores, is supposed to be a “key tool for pinpointing infection hotspots as officials look to ease lockdown.” According to reports, several Fine Fare supermarkets in the Bronx and Brooklyn are involved. So far, each one has given out more than 200 antibody tests a day.

Rudy Fuertes, president of Fteley Food Corp, told The Post, the tests have been done quietly, and no announcement has been made by the governor’s office.

Fuertes, who has tested positive for the virus, but has no symptoms, said: ”they don’t tell anyone they are doing that — otherwise we’d have lines through the kazoo.”

The antibody test, which first launched last month, was created for first responders, healthcare workers, and hospital patients. Soon enough, they expanded into local urgent care clinics. This weekend, more than 5,000 independent drug stores began testing statewide, The Post reported.

State officials state that over the last two weeks, about 8,000 people have been tested. 3,000 of those tests included random samples from the population.

New York state is a US location that has been hit the hardest by the virus. Cuomo said this week “that nearly a quarter of New York City residents have had coronavirus.”

“The tests are bringing hope to our community,” Fuertes said.