City Offers Free COVID Tests At Bayside Park As Cases Spike

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Neighbors in Bayside can now pick up free at-home COVID-19 testing kits while visiting a local park as the city faces criticism for its handling of a dramatic new wave of infections.

Two sites within Fort Totten Park — the visitors center and pool — are handing out testing kits as of Wednesday as part of a citywide initiative to battle the latest BA.5-fueled COVID surge — the worst in New York City since January's Omicron peak. In Bayside's 11360 ZIP code, the positivity rate during the week of July 3 topped 22 percent, exceeding the citywide 15 percent positivity rate.

The test-handout initiative, which includes 57 Parks Department pools and recreation centers, builds on the city's existing network of about 1,100 at-home test distribution sites, including libraries, community centers and museums.

Expanding the city's at-home testing network comes as Mayor Eric Adams recently cut back on brick-and-mortar PCR and rapid testing sites and scrapped the city's color-coded COVID alert system — choices he's defended amid criticism.

"It’s clear that New Yorkers prefer the reliability, the convenience, and the immediate results provided by at-home tests," Adams said Tuesday after announcing the Parks Department testing initiative.

"We’re not going to hold onto something that’s an old weapon merely because we had it," he said earlier this month, defending the choice to eliminate the COVID alert system.

Instead, the administration has shifted its focus to COVID-19 treatment options — offering access to antiviral medicine at some mobile testing sites and launching a new 24-hour treatment hotline.

"We’re going to create new weapons to fight this new war," Adams said.

Distribution of testing kits at the Fort Totten Visitors Center will be from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday until Labor Day.

At-home tests will also be handed out at the Fort Totten Pool to pool patrons from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Find a full list of the city's at-home testing kit distribution sites here.