Ocean County Health Department moving Covid-19 testing indoors

The nastiness of the winter weather in the month of February alone has made things treacherous on the roads and altered plans across the board.

As another winter storm enters the Jersey Shore, the Ocean County Health Department is moving all Covid-19 testing at the Ocean County College drive-thru testing site indoors to building 101/the Gateway Building on campus, starting Wednesday.

“Even though we have recently installed a stronger structure for our staff and volunteers providing these tests, the winter weather we have been experiencing has made it difficult to perform these tests outside in a drive thru setting,” Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Dan Regenye said in a statement.

The site is operating from 9 am to 3 pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and appointments are required with the Ocean County Health Department and its partners administering about 400 tests each day the site is open.

“All the paperwork for the test should already be completed during the online registration so the testing will not take any longer than it has when people did not leave their cars,” Regenye said. “This move was made to protect the staff and our volunteers. We expect once the weather gets better moving toward the spring we will go back to the drive thru setting.”

Ocean County Commissioner Gerry Little, liaison to the Ocean County Health Department, said there have been more than 26,000 COVID 19 tests administered at the college site since it opened.

As of Tuesday, Ocean County had recorded 49,203 cases of the coronavirus.

“This testing site has been run efficiently, providing these important tests for our County residents,” Little said in a statement. “We have closely monitored the needs and consistently adjusted the hours of testing at the college to accommodate our residents.”

To schedule an appointment for a test you can visit the Ocean County Health Department website at www.ochd.org.

If you have any questions, call the Ocean County Health Department at 732-341-9700, Extension7411.

You can also call 732-380-5079 or 1-833-544-0288 if you have general questions about the coronavirus, exposure, quarantine and spread, contract tracing, testing and the vaccine.

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