Hoboken COVID-19 testing site shuts down, leaving residents scrambling to reschedule

Just hours after the testing site on Grand Street opened Sunday morning, the city of Hoboken pulled the plug at the spot and asked residents to reschedule their appointments at other testing sites in the city.

News 12 Staff

Dec 27, 2021, 9:29 PM

Updated 1,011 days ago

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Just hours after the testing site on Grand Street opened Sunday morning, the city of Hoboken pulled the plug at the spot and asked residents to reschedule their appointments at other testing sites in the city.
The city of Hoboken announced last week that additional testing would be available to residents, starting the day after Christmas.
There was a long line Sunday morning, as residents lined up outside of the Multi Service Community Center of Hoboken to get tested after the holidays.
But just after 2 p.m. Sunday, the city of Hoboken announced it was canceling testing at the site, which was being conducted by Bespoke Health. The city says it was not a long-term provider.
Residents who had scheduled appointments were asked to reschedule through one of the city's other providers. One site is on Jackson Street, and testing was ramped up to accommodate more people.
"One of the labs could not provide what we requested and that's what happens, so we have to make sure that we provide the results to our residents," said Leo Pellegrini, Hoboken Director of Health and Human Services.
News 12 was told that Fusion Laboratories, which is the lab Bespoke Health used to process COVID-19 tests, had technical issues.
In a statement, Bespoke Health said: 
"Unfortunately, the laboratory partner Bespoke was working with had some unforeseen technical issues and therefore was unable to process results within their estimated turnaround time.  Because of this, we will not continue the testing at Grand Street and the site has been closed."
The city says anyone who was tested at the Grand Street testing site on Sunday should expect their results by Tuesday.