The City of Bayonne, through the local medical center, will begin expanding their COVID-19 testing next week to include “patients off ALL doctors within our community” as their total number of cases hits 349.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The Bayonne Medical Center has been doing testing for Bayonne’s First Responders/Health Care workers and patients of CarePoint physicians. BMC has been saying, since before the testing started, when they received more test kits, they would expand their testing to include patients off ALL doctors within our community,” Mayor Jimmy Davis wrote on Facebook.
“The Bayonne Medical Center has informed me today, they have been able to secure more test kits which will enable them to expand this community-wide testing ability beginning next week.”
HCV first reported last month that the drive-through testing center, hosted at the Don Ahern Veterans Memorial Stadium, would had three phases: expanding to healthcare workers and first responders in the second stage, and then taking patients from community doctors outside of the CarePoint network in the third stage.
“The BMC has secured more test kits and will be able to test patients of all doctors in Bayonne at Veterans Stadium beginning next week (Monday 4/13/20). Every doctor in Bayonne has received instructions on how to schedule appointments for their patients,” the Bayonne Office of Emergency Management said in a statement.
“Your doctor will not be sending anyone that is not experiencing symptoms and your doctor MUST schedule an appointment. Testing will be conducted each weekday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.”
To date, 13 Bayonne resident have passed away due to complications from the coronavirus, while over 40 residents have recovered, according to the city’s OEM.
This afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Health disclosed that there are now 51,027 cases of the coronavirus statewide, along with 1,700 deaths, including 5,879 cases in Hudson County and 132 deaths – the third most in the state by county.
