COVID testing sites to open throughout county this week

A partnership between Cooper, the Freeholder Board and the Camden Coalition will oversee the sites

(CAMDEN, NJ) –Cooper University Health Care in conjunction with the Camden County Freeholder Board, Camden County Health Department and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers will open three new walk-up testing sites on Wednesday, December 9 in Camden City to provide additional testing capacity.  The three new sites will open in community schools throughout impacted zip codes in Camden City and will be easily accessible by foot, vehicle or public transportation.

In addition to the three new pop-up sites in the city, the Freeholder Board will be opening a sixth testing site in Lindenwold within the next week to conduct testing at the Camden County Department of Public Works complex.

Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. talked about the importance of building more capacity in testing throughout the county and focusing efforts in the hardest hit neighborhoods.

“These new testing sites will provide more options for our residents who need access and opportunity to testing in specific zip codes,” Cappelli said. “Thousands of county residents are getting tested every day, but we know that the easier you make this resource the more probable it is the community to take advantage of it. Furthermore, these new testing sites are in impacted neighborhoods that have more health disparities and vulnerabilities than other parts of the county and a greater need.”

The pop-up testing sites will operate at a different school each day of the week. No appointment is required for testing and the sites will be open until there is no longer a demand for testing. The schedule for the sites are as follows:

• Mondays- Veterans Memorial School will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The school is in the Cramer Hill neighborhood located at 800 N 26th St, Camden, 08105.
• Wednesdays– Cooper Poynt School will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The school is in the North Camden neighborhood and located at 201 State St, Camden, 08102.
• Thursdays– Dr. Charles Brimm Medical Arts High School will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The school is in the Whitman Park neighborhood located at 1626 Copewood St, Camden, 08103.

The pop-up testing sites in Camden City will not require an appointment.

The mobile testing sites in both Cherry Hill and Camden City are open to county residents and meet other criteria (exposure, pending surgery/procedure, travel, school, work, or daycare requirements).  For more information or to schedule an appointment at these sites, call (856) 968-7100 or email covid19swabsite@cooperhealth.edu.

Kathleen Noonan, the chief executive officer of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers talked about the importance of testing during the second surge of the virus.

“As COVID-19 cases in Camden rise, it is critical that we make testing accessible and responsive to the community’s needs,” Noonan said. “We are proud to work with Camden County and Cooper University Health Care on this data-driven and person-centered approach to COVID-19 testing.”

The pop-up sites will complement two heavily traveled drive-up COVID-19 testing sites on the Cherry Hill Campus of Camden County College and on the Cooper University Health Care campus in Camden. As cases continue to rise in the county and state, these new sites are testing more than 900 residents a day for COVID-19.

The Camden County College site located at 1889 Marlton Pike East in Cherry Hill (the corner of Springdale Road and Route 70) operates Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Cooper Campus site at the corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard operates on the same schedule.

“Given the recent spikes in the number of new COVID-19 positive cases in the community we feel it is our obligation to open additional COVID-19 walk-up testing sites so we may serve more people in the city of Camden and help reduce the spread of the virus,” said Kevin O’Dowd, JD, co-CEO of Cooper.

“We are fortunate to be able to provide more testing sites for everyone who needs it, but the best way to protect yourself and those around you is to wear masks in public, avoid places where you cannot physically distance from others, and wash your hands often so you won’t need a test,” said Anthony Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, co-CEO of Cooper.

In the coming days the Freeholder Board will also be announcing another central site located in Lindenwold at the county Department of Public Works facility located at 2311 Egg Harbor Road, Lindenwold, 08021. Residents will be able to schedule an appointment at www.camdencounty.com and the site will operate with the Rutgers University saliva test. The site will be open on Tuesday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information will be available on the new site this coming week.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with Cooper and the Coalition to provide numerous community-based COVID-19 testing sites to serve the needs of the citizens of Camden County,” Cappelli said. “As the entire country and state continue to respond to the second COVID-19 surge, it remains imperative that county residents have access and opportunity to testing. This initiative combined with social distancing and other mitigation factors will help us break the back of this virus.”

The six new sites that have been stood up starting in Cherry Hill on Nov. 12, are also going to have other resources from the Camden County Health Department as well. Masks will be provided along with educational material going over the basics of staying safe during the pandemic.

*Scheduling for the holidays will be as follows- all testing sites will not be in operation on Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan 1.