Camden County officials say that they are nearly ready to open a drive-through coronavirus testing site, but that they are lacking a key component – testing kits.
The testing site will be set up in the parking lot of Camden County College in Blackwood.
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“You come up, you present your identification and present your prescription for the test from the doctor. Your window is rolled down, a medical professional in a PPE will administer the swab in your nose and then deposit the sweat into the test kit and then you drive off,” says Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Capelli.
Officials say that the site is all ready to go and could have it up and running quickly, but that they still are in need of the kits.
“We are having a lot of difficulty getting tests. It’s quite clear to me that the nation was not prepared for this,” Capelli says. “We are contacting every manufacturer of these tests directly. We are also taking to medical institutions to try and obtain tests.”
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The county wants to purchase 6,000 test kits. County officials say that the longer it takes, the more hospitals will become overwhelmed.
“If we can get a large number of people tested, we hope to provide 200 tests today, then we can identify the positives and shut them down and have them home quarantine. If their symptoms are severe enough, they’ll be sent to the hospital,” says Camden County Health Department Director Anne Walters.
There are 12 cases of coronavirus in Camden County – the latest cases in Barrington, Cherry Hill and Voorhees,