OCHD Testing Site at Ocean County College Opening Monday

The Ocean County Health Department/Office of Emergency Management will open its coronavirus drive thru testing site at Ocean County College beginning at 9:00 am Monday, March 30 to Ocean County residents who must be registered to be tested and must have a doctor’s prescription for the test.

“We want these tests to run as smoothly as possible for our residents and the staff that will be onsite doing the tests. This will help insure everyone’s safety,” Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, who serves as the Coordinator of the Ocean County Office of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the site, said. “I encourage everyone to follow the requirement to have a doctor’s prescription for the test, to register for the test and to have proper identification once you come to the site. If you haven’t registered and if you don’t have a doctor’s prescription we cannot provide you with a test. I cannot stress this enough."

Residents should enter the site from the college’s Hooper Avenue entrance. The site is scheduled to be open until 3 pm daily and will run weather permitting.

The site will operate daily as long as coronavirus tests continue to be available.

The site will be set up to test about 180 people per day.

Once the test has been performed, it’s anticipated to take about three to five days for results to be returned.

Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Dan Regenye said it’s imperative residents have a doctor’s prescription for the test in order to prevent them from being turned away.

“We are not going to do any health screening at the site,” he said. “It is just for testing for the virus.”

Ocean County residents who are showing signs of the virus or who have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus should contact their doctor immediately to see if they need to be tested.

“If you can be tested elsewhere before we open the site I would strongly urge you to do so,” Regenye said.

To register for the coronavirus test visit the Ocean County Health Department website at www.ochd.org and follow the online directions.

For more information on COVID 19 call the Ocean County Health Department hotline at 732-341-9700, Ext.7411.

“This testing site for Ocean County residents is the result of the combined efforts of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Ocean County Office of Emergency Management under the direction of Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy, the Ocean County Health Department, Ocean County College, RWJ Barnabas Health Southern Region and Hackensack Meridian Health,” Ocean County Freeholder Director Joe Vicari said. “The drive thru testing site will help with our large senior population and those residents who have been advised to be tested for the coronavirus.”

The most common symptoms of COVID 19 are fever, fatigue, a dry cough and shortness of breath.

Health experts say individuals not experiencing any signs or symptoms of a respiratory illness are discouraged from being tested as it diverts resources away from those who need it most, floods the laboratory with specimens unlikely to test positive and provides individuals with a false sense of security when the results come back negative.

Ocean County will also establish a process to ensure that people with test results are informed in a timely manner and provided with guidance, consultation and next steps.