In an effort to flatten the curve during the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced a comprehensive system to test and trace all positive cases of COVID-19 today.
The Test & Trace Corps’ “Take Care Initiative” will provide free hotel rooms with wraparound services for New Yorkers who are unable to safely separate in their own homes and support those who are separating at home with designated resource navigators.
“Helping New Yorkers safely separate is, along with testing and tracing, the key to safely reopening our city,” de Blasio said. “Separating will help keep you and your loved ones safe, but it isn’t always easy. From providing free hotel rooms to delivering meals, your city is here to bridge the gap and has your back each and every step of the way as you recover.”
Take Care
The Test & Trace Corps tracers will check-in via daily calls, text messages and conduct in-person visits as necessary. This will allow the monitors to gauge the progress of patients, ensure proper compliance with separation protocol and connect patients to more supportive services as necessary.
Through partnerships with 15 community-based organizations across the city, Resource Navigators will help New Yorkers overcome logistical issues they may encounter while safely separating in their homes, such as access to basic services like food, medicine and laundry. Two hundred Resource Navigators will be on the ground next week in communities across the city, with the intention to expand the program and hire additional navigators in the following weeks.
The city will offer “Take Care Hotels” free of charge to anyone who is unable to safely separate in their own home. Any doctor, nurse or physician’s assistants across the city can email CommCareCP@nychhc.org to refer a patient to a room. If you don’t have a doctor, any symptomatic New Yorker can call 844-692-4692, the city’s COVID-19 hotline and ask for the COVID Hotel Program. More than 1,000 rooms are available, with the goal to expand the number of rooms to 3,000 by late summer.
Case Monitors and Investigators
Over 1,700 tracers have been hired to join the initiative, surpassing the city’s goal to hire 1,000 tracers by June 1, with 700 hired from neighborhoods hardest hit by the virus. To ensure the Corps can meet the needs of New Yorkers from all backgrounds, 40 languages are also spoken across the Corps.
New Testing Site
An additional 16 community testing sites will open through a partnership with AdvantageCare Physicians on June 1. Appointments are encouraged, and those who are interested should call 866-749-2660 to make theirs. Sites will be located across the five boroughs, with three sites in Brooklyn, 45 in Queens, five in the Bronx and one on Staten Island.
The following sites will open the week of June 1:
- 921 East 228th Street (Bronx)
- 1302 Edward L Grant Highway (Bronx)
- Beach 39th Street (Far Rockaway)
- Parking Lot at Leavitt Field (Flushing)
- 1716 Bleecker Street (Ridgewood)
The following sites will open the week of June 8:
- 4002 Fort Hamilton Parkway (Brooklyn)
- 6315 14th Avenue (Brooklyn)
The following sites will open the week of June 15:
- Greenbelt Recreation Center (Staten Island)
The following sites will open the week of June 22:
- Jacob Riis Settlement House (Queens)
The following sites will open the week of June 29:
- Manhattanville Health Center (Bronx)
- Bronx 4006 3rd Avenue (Bronx)
