Corona, Queens Continues to Face Shortages in Rapid COVID-19 Testing Amidst Ongoing Demand
Right before the start of the New Year, Ashly Feliz hoped to enter 2021 watching the ball drop with her family. After going into work one morning, she realized she had no sense of taste or smell. Since she encounters a lot of elderly people as an employee at a local elderly facility, she knew the safest decision would be to notify her supervisor and leave for immediate testing.
Following a burdensome wait in the cold for a rapid coronavirus test at a CityMD in Queens, the result was pretty much as she expected: Positive.
Before standing in line at the well-known Urgent Care center in the heart of Corona, Ashly visited two other locations that had reached their limit of rapid coronavirus tests for the day. For people like her who needed immediate results, waiting in line for hours to get tested for a fatal virus raises an issue that needs to be addressed.
“Lines will form outside of the CityMD as early as 6 a.m. — They open at 8 a.m.,” said Feliz. “That's two hours in the cold to be placed on another line to be tested.”
Feliz is one of the 79,000 Hispanic residents living in Corona, Queens, totaling a population of 110,369 people. While other demographic groups can be found in the sector, Hispanics make up a strong 72% in the area.
Out of all five boroughs, Queens was the worst-hit by the ongoing pandemic. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that Queens holds the highest mortality rate in their research study of Disparities in COVID-19 Testing and Positivity in New York City at 31.9%. The patterns of higher mortality rates correspond to areas that were found to have more positive test results and less testing availability overall.
Rapid coronavirus tests, also known as antigen tests, can detect the virus’ genetic material in an infected person within 15 minutes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) affirms that this kind of testing is “inexpensive” and “less sensitive” than Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. PCR testing, which has the ability to detect small fragments of the virus, has a turnaround time of two to five days for results.
Testing is essential in detecting the virus and preventing the spread. If residents are unable to access testing easily and fast, then the virus spreads at a faster rate, increasing hospitalization and death rates.
“The line is always to the very end of the block. I arrived there at 11 a.m. and finally got tested at almost 6 p.m. — At least seven hours of waiting in the cold,” said Feliz.
CityMD in Corona, Queens is one of the few, popular medical centers that offers coronavirus testing results within minutes. According to Dr. Ravin V Patel, MD, the location treats about 1,000 patients per day, half of them being coronavirus testing related. With over nine years of experience in family medicine, the urgent care provider emphasized he’s never seen anything like this.
“It is really overwhelming. Sometimes we don't even have enough rapid tests to give to everyone,” said Dr. Patel.
Original Photo taken outside of CityMD location at 37-26 Junction Blvd, Corona, NY 11366
In December of 2020, the location was only allowed to conduct 150 tests per day. Once supplies were out, employees were instructed to send anyone seeking a rapid covid test home or to another location. In recent months, Corona’s CityMD has boosted their daily limit of rapid tests to 350, yet resources are still scarce and the unanswered question that remains is: What is the reason?
Almost a year and a few months into the pandemic, the city is still struggling to meet the ongoing demand for rapid testing in heavily Hispanic communities like Corona. Throughout recent months, long lines continue to form outside of CityMD and other testing locations in the neighborhood making it difficult for residents to know if they are infected or not.
Data from the New York City Department of Health reveals that one in every nine people have tested positive for coronavirus in Corona since the onset of the pandemic. The neighborhood’s case and death rate surpass Queens’ overall numbers as well as NYC as a whole.
In the last 7 days, the percent positivity and rate of new cases are higher than the median amount that includes all zip codes in all NYC neighborhoods per 100,000 people. These numbers prove that in Corona, officials are struggling to control the virus and provide adequate resources that aid slowing down the curve, such as rapid testing.
From left to right: Percent positive and new cases in Corona, Queens zip code 11368. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data-neighborhoods.page
Feliz believes, however, that Corona has been making a few improvements. “I think the availability of rapid tests now has gotten a lot better because they do allow you to make the line before they open, and take down your information so you can leave and receive a call back to get tested instead of waiting in the cold.”
Overall, she thinks the entire structure for getting a rapid test is still unorganized and unfair to those who are really sick and need to be tested immediately.
Government officials have acknowledged that shortages and disparities in rapid testing indeed exist at a national and local level.
In an interview with NBC reporters, White House COVID-19 Task force member and Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Girori shared that the United States has conducted nearly 180 million tests since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. He confirmed that almost a year later, the country only had the capacity to conduct 125 million tests.
In other words, as of November 2020 the United States did not have the money nor space to test more than 125 million people.
With a population of approximately 331 million, the world’s superpower does not have the resources to supply more than half of its inhabitants. This large-scale shortage continues to pose a great threat to poverty stricken areas like Corona, Queens that is home to thousands of Black and Hispanic people.
In a meeting with the New York City Council Committee on Health and Mental Health on March 15, 2021, Dave A. Chokshi, MD speaks on how coronavirus has affected certain demographic groups differently than others. Dr. Chokshi currently serves as the Commissioner of New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“We have seen disparate outcomes in both illness and mortality in Black and Latino New Yorkers when compared to rates experienced by White New Yorkers,” said Dr. Chokshi.
On a city-wide level, he acknowledges the inequities that exist within public health for Black and Hispanic groups. He blames the disparities on longstanding structural racism, yet does not specify what the Department of Health is doing to achieve full equity in real-time.
For the 2022 Fiscal Year Preliminary Budget, Dr. Chokshi shares some disturbing updates that will affect residents like Feliz in a few months. With the new year rapidly approaching, the Governor’s budget plan is proposing $50 million annual cuts to critical public health funding for NYC.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment and reducing resources for public health will worsen the health disparities that led to devastating coronavirus illness and death rates in Black and Latino communities,” he said.
On the bright side, Queens Community Board 4, which is the local government office that represents the neighborhoods of Corona, Corona Heights, East Elmhurst and Newton, is making strides to provide more accessible and timely rapid testing sites to its residents.
Since February 9, 2021, Council Member Francisco Moya has been bringing two to three different testing vans throughout the district, which includes Corona. Both rapid and PCR testing are being conducted in these vans.
Rapid Reliable Testing van photograph courtesy of NYC Health + Hospital’s Twitter post from Mar 18.
One testing company, Rapid Reliable Testing, offers free, mobile testing in Corona. Their van can be found along Roosevelt Ave
“Our community was the epicenter of the pandemic. Testing is the only way we ensure we are keeping track of data in our own community. As the numbers come down, we will get through this,” said Council Member Moya.