'People Are Mad:' Mix-up At City-Run COVID Site In Forest Hills

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — When neighbors started calling Our Lady Queen of Martyrs church on Monday asking where its COVID testing site was located, church employees were confused.

The church hosted a SOMOS testing booth on Dec. 23rd, and another pop-up site for several days last week, but it is not hosting COVID testing this week since students are back at school in the building.

Earlier that morning, however, New York City's Test and Trace Corps listed the church as hosting a daily testing site during the week of Jan. 3rd — prompting confusion, and outrage, among neighbors. (NYC Test and Trace removed the church from its testing list on Monday.)

"We have people showing up and they're mad," said Barbara Krische, the assistant to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs' pastor, Bishop Paul R. Sanchez.

The testing mix-up adds insult to injury for many locals, who have already been protesting what they say is a lack of city-run testing options in the neighborhood; testing sites in Richmond Hill and Corona — about a 30 minute bus or train ride from the heart of Forest Hills — are the closest city-run sites operating on a daily basis this week.

When asked to explain the errant testing listing at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, a spokesperson for Test and Trace told Patch that the group is "constantly" adding testing sites to communities, doubling the city's free testing system by over 100 new sites in the past three weeks alone during the citywide omicron-induced COVID surge.

"There are times when this means our projected schedule may have to change and we update our testing websites accordingly," the spokesperson said, confirming that the site at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in fact closed on Sunday.

Community members who would like to see a Test and Trace site in their neighborhood can request one online, they added.

Forest Hills residents, however, are still displeased that the initially-listed site at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is not operating this week.

One, who went to the church on Monday only to learn that there was no testing, said in a Facebook post that she left feeling "really disappointed." Another, who did the same thing, added that she was extra confused about the mix-up, having learned about the site from a city-run Twitter feed.

"Guess this still means no city-run testing in Forest Hills or Rego Park," wrote a third, sharing the original Patch piece about the testing mix-up.

Related Article: No COVID Testing At Listed City Site In Forest Hills, Church Says

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.