CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A coronavirus testing site in Camden County that was supposed to close on Monday now has plans now to stay open indefinitely. And Congressman Andy Kim is pushing FEMA to boost testing in the region with a federally supported testing site in his South Jersey district.
For two weeks now, Camden County has operated a drive-thru test site in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge, and two area health care providers have agreed their work is not yet done.
"Both Cooper University Hospital and Virtua recognize the need for additional testing in Camden County and in particular Camden City," County Freeholder Director Lou Cappelli told KYW Newsradio. "So they’ve agreed to extend the term of the site."
The rules haven't changed. County residents have to get a referral from their physician, who will determine if symptoms merit a test, and then set up an appointment to get it. More than 600 people have gotten tested so far.
"Testing is the way we're going to fight this thing, flatten the curve, gain knowledge," Cappelli added. "So we're very happy that this decision has been made."
The cost is being split between Virtua, Cooper and the county. The Cooper’s Poynt Park site on Delaware Avenue in Camden will continue to operate Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m.
Kim echoed that need for testing in South Jersey on a live telephone interview with KYW on Friday morning.
We're pressing hard. We submitted the request a couple weeks ago. We have the entire United States congressional delegation from New Jersey, in the House and the Senate, bipartisan, bicameral, put in a request to FEMA 14 days ago. ... I raised it with the FEMA heads in the region just a couple days ago.
What's the advantage of a federally funded test site?
We have two federally funded test sites in New Jersey right now, both in North Jersey. And obviously there's been an outbreak in the pandemic there, so that makes a lot of sense. But we want to make sure we have an additional site, one down in South Jersey, that can make sure that many more residents of New Jersey across the state can have access.
A federally backed site means that the federal government will have their own personnel, they'll have their own personal protective equipment, their own test kits. This will create a foundation on which the counties can build.
This should not be a piecemeal effect to be able to try to have the testing that is so needed right now in our state. We need to make sure we are doing it in a coordinated way.
We understand FEMA was planning on pulling funding for these testing sites today. But now we understand there's an extension. Can you explain what's going on there?
Across our congressional delegation we were pushing hard to make sure that we have these two sites continue. FEMA has given the assurances that they will continue that. That is a good step. We need to make sure we're going further.
In my district, for instance, in Ocean County 14 days ago, we had only 484 positive cases. As of yesterday, we have 3,093. In Burlington County, we had 88 before, 14 days ago. We're at 883. We're seeing the numbers increase. But without a higher number of testing that we can do, we don't know if that's just the tip of the iceberg or if there's something else.
We're hearing from the White House that Philadelphia and the Philadelphia area could be an upcoming hot spot, so this is something that I'm deeply worried about.
KYW's Brandon Brooks also asked Kim about getting help for small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic.
A vote on a boost to the federal small business loan program failed on Thursday. A lot of business owners say they've had trouble getting a loan from the original program. What needs to be done to get those businesses the help they need?
This has been incredibly frustrating. I've heard from so many small-business owners over the last few days about this. I'm on the small-business committee in Congress. ... So I've had a particularly strong pulse on this.
First of all, we just need to get the program enacted properly. The funding that is already there is just not being moved forward in the way that it needs to. The $10,000 grants that a lot of small businesses should be getting up front isn't being delivered. We're having all sorts of problems with the lending banks for not getting coordinated guidance from the federal government. Again, everything is happening in piecemeal. So we need to fix what's already happening.
Meanwhile, we need to make sure that we're increasing the amount of money that's in that pot so that small businesses can get it.
I'm holding a telephone town hall ... for small businesses in my district to try to talk through this. Hear the struggles that they're having and make sure that we're able to push and fix these problem immediately. Otherwise, some of these small businesses told me they only have a few days left before they may have to shut down and lay off workers.
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KYW Newsradio's David Madden and Eric Walter contributed to this report.
