TOMS RIVER – Citing a reduction in positive tests, the Ocean County Health Department’s testing center at Ocean County College is dropping from four to three days a week.
Beginning the week of February 8, the site will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Note, however, that the testing site will be closed on Friday, February 12 and Monday, February 15 because of Presidents Day weekend.
The reason for the cutback is because the need for tests appears to be on the decline, officials said. There had been a boost brought about by people meeting up over the December holidays.
“By monitoring the testing, we know we again can efficiently provide the same number of tests and meet the needs of our residents while scaling back to three days a week,” said Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Daniel Regenye. “The change will help assist in staffing our coronavirus vaccination clinics in the county.”
The testing center can handle about 400 tests a day, Regenye said. However, they haven’t been reaching those numbers.
“We are averaging about 240 tests each day we are open,” he said.
“Testing shows if you have the virus even if you are asymptomatic,” Regenye said. “This can help reduce the spread of the virus so long as people quarantine.
The county has administered more than 24,000 tests since the college site opened, officials said.
To schedule an appointment for a test, Ocean County residents can visit the Ocean County Health Department website at ochd.org. For more information, visit that site or call 732-341-9700, Ext. 7411. Proof of residency will be required.
Vaccination Sites
The testing center and vaccination clinics are separate from each other. Vaccination does not take place at the testing center and vice versa.
The health department runs one vaccination site at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena at Toms River High School North and Southern Regional Middle School in Stafford Township.
“While more than 14,000 vaccinations have been administered at the health department clinics, we continue to quickly reach appointment capacity due to the limited amount of vaccine coming to the health department sites,” Commissioner Gerry Little said. “We continue to encourage the governor to engage all health care providers including hospitals, doctors and pharmacies, to become part of the vaccination process.”
“Getting all of our residents vaccinated is a monumental task and one that calls for all hands on deck by all health care providers in the County,” said Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Gary Quinn. “Ocean County is home to more than 200,000 senior citizens alone and a good number of them are waiting for appointments at this time. We are doing all we can to meet these needs.”
The State of New Jersey’s toll-free vaccination hotline (1-855-568-0545) is available to assist callers with identifying if they are currently eligible for a vaccination, pre-register for the vaccine, and to help them identify locations nearest to them where they can get vaccinated.
The hotline is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day and can help callers in more than 240 different languages. In addition, more information on where, when and how you can get vaccinated, can be found on the New Jersey COVID-19 website at covid19.nj.gov.
