NYC Conducts 95K Coronavirus Tests In A Single Day, Sets Record

NEW YORK CITY — New York City recently conducted 95,000 coronavirus tests in a single day — a new record for the city that comes at a time when obtaining tests is still an ordeal for many across the country.

The testing milestone announced Tuesday during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daily briefing also coincides with the potential arrival of a coronavirus vaccine.

De Blasio said while tests were the “difference maker” that turned the city from pandemic epicenter to relative safe harbor, the vaccine will end the war entirely.

“This is the final phase in the war against the coronavirus,” he said. “We have one more big battle ahead.”

The vaccine will be in New York City next week, de Blasio said.

His bold prediction repeats previous announcements both by himself and Gov. Andrew Cuomo that the first doses of a Pfizer-developed coronavirus vaccine will arrive Dec. 15.

The vaccine received positive marks for its safety and protection against COVID-19 in federal documents released Tuesday. Its approval is widely anticipated to follow a Thursday public review by a Food and Drug Administration panel.

But approval isn’t a guarantee, despite the vaccine already being approved and administered in Britain.

New Yorkers in nursing homes and front line health care workers would be first in line to receive the shots.

De Blasio said the city still will need to get through the next few months before the vaccine is widely available to the public — which Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently said won’t be until at least April.

Testing will remain important, de Blasio said.

Ted Long, who heads the city’s Test and Trace program, said not only were more than 95,000 tests recently conducted in a single day, but the city’s contact tracers are reaching above 90 percent of people who test positive.

About 80 percent of those people agreed to interview that allowed workers to conduct the contact tracing process, Long said.

The city opened 10 new rapid testing sites in the last month that provide results in 15 minutes and give near-instant contact with tracers, Long said.

People can call 212-COVID19 or visit Test and Trace’s website to find a nearby city-run testing site.