The city has shut down its last rapid COVID-19 testing site despite community efforts to keep it open, leaving New Yorkers without an easy way to find free PCR testing amid recent rises in coronavirus diagnoses.

The Crown Heights, Brooklyn location, which was run by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, permanently ended services July 18 just weeks after the announcement was made. The free rapid tests allowed users to get their results in 24 hours. The site also offered flu and RSV tests, along with the COVID tests.

Upon news of the closure, community groups like the Crown Heights CARE Collective brought attention to the announcement through social media in an effort to stop the closing of the last testing location in the city. In an Instagram post, the group urged people to send a note on the DOH website to Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner of the agency.

“It was a big discussion inside our community chats. People were really alarmed,” said Crown Heights CARE Collective organizer Cheryl Rivera.

Members of the community regularly utilized the testing site, taking advantage of the efficiency of the process. “I’ve done it and it really does take five minutes. When I’ve been in NYC Health and Hospitals it’s typically taking a lot longer,” said Rivera.

With the closure, New Yorkers must now find other ways of getting tested. Although the testing site has closed, New York Health + Hospitals will still provide COVID tests at 11 sites throughout the city. However, there are concerns that people will not be able to access these tests as easily as they would in a testing site.

“There’s no more PCR tests. This was really a place where you could walk in and usually find an appointment,” said Rivera. “If you want to get a PCR test, you have to book at places like the COVID health and hospitals, but this is a lot more involved of a process.”

Despite the peak of the pandemic passing, New York continues to encounter spikes in COVID cases during the winter and smaller spikes in the summer. In March there were as many as 613 cases and mid-July saw 211, according to city data.

As the city continues to defund initiatives originally set up during the pandemic, it has become harder for community members to find ways to protect themselves against COVID with many not aware that such resources were available in the first place.

“Some people sadly did not even know that this PCR testing clinic was still available in Crown Heights. It just hasn’t been advertised to people,” said Rivera.

Community organizations have stepped in to find alternatives for community members in need of the resources originally provided by the testing sites. The Crown Heights CARE Collective alongside other Brooklyn organizations have distributed at-home COVID testing kits for residents as a replacement for PCR tests. Though at-home tests are still available and accessible, they are not as accurate as PCR tests, and if not provided by a community organization, can be costly. It becomes an issue for marginalized groups that relied on such resources.

“People are still concerned about COVID, especially elderly people. People come in and they’ve been happy to get masks from outside events or COVID tests. They’ll take the home COVID tests. People are just not aware that PCR testing did still exist,” said Rivera.

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