Free COVID testing site to open at county center in Riverside Friday, county executive says

A free COVID test site will be opening at the county center in Riverside on Friday, County Executive Steve Bellone announced this afternoon.

The test site is one of three — so far — that will be operated by HRH Care, the health care company that operates the county’s health centers. One site opened in Huntington Station today and the third will open in Brentwood, also on Friday, Bellone said.

The free testing sites are targeting coronavirus “hot spots” across the county. While most communities in the county have confirmed-case infection rates of less than 10 cases per 1,000 people, the rates in “hot-spot” communities are double what they are elsewhere.

The communities most severely impacted by coronavirus infections have the largest Latino populations among Suffolk communities.

According to data presented today by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Hispanics are overrepresented in the fatality statistics statewide, both within and outside the City of New York. Outside NYC, Hispanics were 14% of those who succumbed to the virus, while they make up just 11% of the population.

The county has done “targeted messaging,” including radio spots, and outreach to nonprofits and faith-based organizations, but the Latino communities have been hard to connect with, Bellone said yesterday.

Cuomo said the over-representation of both Latinos and African Americans in the statewide death toll may be a result of the types of jobs held by members of both groups — suggesting that these jobs are often not jobs that allow people to work from home.

Bellone said the language barrier has also been a factor.

Some immigrant advocates have said Latinos often work at jobs deemed “essential” by the government and are obligated to continue working.

“At SEPA Mujer we have been receiving a lot of calls from people who are essential workers, and that even though they suspected they had had the virus, employers demanded they keep working since they didn’t show any more symptoms, or they would be fired,” said SEPA Mujer executive director Martha Maffei.

“The [Latino] community does not have access to testing places, sometimes employers will not give them permission, sometimes is because of a language barrier, or because of lack of insurance since many sites you have to pay full price for testing, and sometimes they can’t get to those places because of transportation,” Maffei said.

The county executive thanked Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar for connecting the county with Reef Technology, which is providing tents for the tests sites and handling logistics, he said.

The Miami, Florida-based company is funding the three sites, Reef Technology chief revenue officer George Fallica said.

” We are covering the costs for 2,000 tests, the tents, signage, staff, queue app, logistics, etc.,” Fallica wrote in an email.

“We just want to help the community,” he said.

The county executive said the county is working to open up additional sites in the hope of reaching people who have not been tested. He could not yet provide locations for where the additional sites might be located.

The testing site in Riverside will be set up in the parking lot at the Evans K. Griffing County Center, which is located at 100 Center Drive, Riverhead NY 11901. See directions. The county executive said yesterday appointments would be required for testing and the same screening procedures would apply as at the other testing sites. For screening and appointments, call  845-553-8030. (This number is the same for all three locations.)

“We want to make sure we are helping those individuals who have seen high rates of infection,” Bellone said.

The county has done “targeted messaging,” including radio spots, and outreach to nonprofits and faith-based organizations, Bellone said, but the Latino communities have been hard to connect with.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect additional information about Reef Technology obtained after publication.