Long lines in Camden County as people are tested for coronavirus
CHERRY HILL, N.J. - Coronavirus testing is ramping up in New Jersey, in order to flatten the rising curve.
A line of vehicles snakes into the parking lot of Camden County College in Cherry Hill. The people have appointments and concerns they’re infected with the coronavirus.
“Is this indicative of what you’re seeing in terms of testing?” asked FOX 29’s Jeff Cole.
“This is very light right now. We’re seeing heavy testing. We’re testing anywhere between 400 and 500 people per day,” Camden County Freeholder Louis Cappelli said.
And, they’ve learned the virus is spreading in this county of half a million residents during the start of a long-feared cold weather wave.
The county believes testing is knowledge.
“It lets us know who’s infected and, hopefully, we can find who they’ve been in contact with and let those folks know. It’s a good way to stop the spread,” Freeholder Cappelli explained.
Using federal Cares Act funds and pairing with area health systems, the county plans to add more pop-up testing sites in the coming weeks.
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Of those swabbed at the particular site, 12 percent are positive.
“Are you kidding me? This is the outdoor bar at Portobello in the Bergen County community of Oakland last Wednesday,” Governor Phil Murphy lamented at his coronavirus briefing.
Governor Murphy used his bully pulpit of the briefing to hammer a restaurant he says packed its outdoor bar on Thanksgiving Eve with no face masks to be seen.
While calling the behavior “knuckle-headed”, Murphy reported 56 news COVID deaths, pushing Jersey’s grim death toll to well over 15,000.
“All of us feared and prepared for the worst, yet it’s safe to say, the worst has been worse than we imagined,” Gov. Murphy added.
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