Astoria, LIC Free COVID Testing This Week: Culture Lab, Library

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Art galleries, playgrounds, and public libraries in northwest Queens are turning into COVID-19 testing sites this week as coronavirus cases skyrocket citywide.

During the week of Jan. 3rd, New York City's Test and Trace Corps will offer PCR testing at Culture Lab, located at 5-25 46th Avenue in Long Island City, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Mobile vans partnering with the city will also be administering rapid antigen tests at Astoria's 31st Avenue Open Street, Hart Playground in Woodside and LaGuardia Airport's Terminal B parking lot, and more (find the full list of locations and times here).

Community organizations and local representatives are also working to bring more testing to northwest Queens this week, including a site at the Broadway branch of the Queens Public Library on Thursday Jan. 6th, which will administer PCR tests from noon until 7 p.m.

All of these tests are all free, and ID and insurance cards are not needed at city-run sites, some of which also offer vaccines.

These free sites are the latest to open in northwest Queens as the omicron variant rapidly spreads across New York, bringing the statewide positive case count to 85,476 on Saturday — a staggering number that smashed the previous all-time record.

As of Dec. 25th, the average 18. 7 percent COVID positivity rate across Astoria and Long Island City remains lower than the borough wide or citywide rates — which both stood around 20 percent — but the return to school (and work for some) following the holiday break is sparking concerns about more cases.

At least a couple of classrooms in Astoria and Long Island City are learning remotely, with dozens other partially closed due to COVID exposures, DOE data shows as of Monday.

While teachers and parents expressed worries to NBC NY about the lack of school-wide testing, Mayor Eric Adams told New Yorkers to "fear not."

"Put your children in school. If it reaches that point that children should not be in school, we will make the proper call," Adams said.

To find a place to get tested for COVID-19, use the city's official map or visit a walk-in Health + Hospitals site. To get vaccinated or boosted, visit vaccinefinder.nyc.gov.