Two new COVID-19 testing sites opened today at the Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton and the Community College in Haskell.  

It is the result of a partnership between the New Jersey Department of Health and Vault Health, who will be administering the saliva-based tests.  

“Here in Trenton, we have 500 available,” says Dr. Myles Spar, national medical director at Vault Health. “In Passaic, we have at least 500, possibly up to 2,000 available, but we should be able to meet the demand.”

Those are just the rapid tests. Saliva-based PCR tests are also available. Those results will come back next day. Many people standing in line hope to get the all-clear to see family and friends this weekend.

“I have an elderly grandmother who just got out of the hospital, not for COVID but for pneumonia actually, and we just want to make sure if we’re going to be seeing her at all, which we might not be, that we’re ready and protecting everybody to the best of our ability,” says Nicole Yuhas, of Hamilton.

The Trenton site is only open today this week, with more dates next week. The Passaic location will be open Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The goal is to make the tests more readily available in the new year.

“We want to be in all 21 counties,” says Spar. “The state is offering free testing to all New Jersey residents, and the counties just need to help us find spaces to work. And otherwise we’re willing to be there, so the expectation is by the second week of January we should be in all 21 counties.”

Vault Health is also the provider for the at-home tests that you can request through the state. It says that more than 70,000 tests were ordered by residents in the first week.