Bergenfield To Be First In County To Test Residents For Coronavirus Regardless Of Symptoms

Bergenfield will start to test residents on Monday for the novel coronavirus at a town testing site regardless of whether or not they are showing symptoms.

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The municipality, which had 726 positive cases of the virus as of Thursday, is the first in Bergen County to administer testing solely for its residents, town officials said in a statement. Jersey City will begin testing residents, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, on Monday.

“Bergenfield has been one of the hardest hit communities in the state and although we are seeing many encouraging signs we want to be sure that anyone infected with COVID-19 is aware of the situation and given the proper directions to self quarantine in order to protect themselves and others,” said Mayor Arvin Amatorio in the statement. “Testing asymptomatic individuals is a major step forward and we are proud that Bergenfield will be the first municipality in Bergen County to offer this service.”

New Jersey has the second most coronavirus cases in the nation, only trailing New York. On Saturday, New Jersey officials said that the state had 123,717 positive cases of the virus and counted 7,742 people as dying from complications of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. The number of deaths increased by more than 200 from the previous day.

Bergen County, with more than 15,000 positive cases, is also among the counties with the most cases in New Jersey.

The Bergenfield testing site is located at Veteran's Memorial Park and will offer both nasal swab and saliva testing in a drive-up setting, according to the statement posted on the borough's website. The site is being operated by the Borough and siParadigm Diagnostic Informatics Lab, a private testing laboratory with offices in Pine Brook that will process the results.

Amatorio and siParadigm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

The tests administered in Bergenfield will be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and all private health insurance plans with no out of pocket costs, officials said. Residents who do not have health insurance may be eligible for assistance in paying for testing and should contact the Borough Administrator’s office for more information.

Although more and more testing sites have opened across the state, with more than 100 in operation, testing has been limited for the most part to individuals showing symptoms, front-line workers, and those who lived or work at facilities such as nursing homes. In recent days, some towns have begun to test some of their residents. In Passaic, for example, coronavirus testing was done on some of the city's homeless population on Thursday.

Government officials from across the country have called for more testing as a way to stem the spread of the virus and understand more fully how much of the community has been affected. Health experts have also warned that the U.S. economy can’t reopen without widespread coronavirus testing.

In Bergenfield, town officials said that they began a 'soft opening" of the site Saturday for municipal staff, first responders and family members who live with them, to make sure everything was working as it should be for the public.

"With any new and complex operation, issues will undoubtedly arise so we ask the community to please be patient through this process as the operation adjusts to becoming fully functional,” said Borough Administrator Corey Gallo in the statement. “This new data will allow our Health Department to engage in more aggressive contact tracing and isolation, all of which is essential to lowering the rate of COVID-19 to a point where we can begin to resume more of our normal activities.”

The facility will officially open to the public Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week. Testing appointments will be limited on the first days of operation.

Testing will be offered by appointment only. Residents must drive to the testing facility by entering Memorial Field using the Melrose Avenue entrance.

To reserve an appointment residents must text the word “registration” to 201-267-2488 or go to https://www.siparadigm-covid19.com/en/patient/registration/step-0.

The site will be open to Bergenfield residents only and proof of residency must be provided in order to be tested, the statement said.

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