East Orange will be serving as a federal testing site for all New Jersey residents from Jan. 1 to Jan. 12 in response to the surge in Omicron cases.

Mayor Ted Green, the East Orange City Council, and the Department of Health and Human Services partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to open the site.

The testing site will be located at 90 Halsted St. in the city's Division of Senior Service's Multi-Purpose Room. It will offer testing for New Jersey residents up to seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The site will have the capacity to administer up to 1,000 rapid, nasal PCR tests per day with results being provided in approximately 24 hours.

"We will utilize every resource that is made available to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities," says Green. "We want to make testing more accessible and convenient for residents, and thanks to the ongoing support of the federal government, we have been provided the means to make that possible."

The new site opens as the state sees more than 20,000 new cases in a day. Essex County has also seen an increase with just over 3,000 new cases reported.

"This site, even outside of COVID, has seen high numbers and high volume," says Dr. Monique S. Griffith, the director of Health and Human Services for East Orange. "Our city is used to it and it's not a new thing for our city to host events and manage large volume. We're not going to be ill prepared. We are definitely prepared for the volume, and we know that there's a need."

Free parking will be available at a main lot at Freeway Drive and Halsted Street with overflow parking available in two additional adjacent lots.