New Jersey residents will be able to get tested for the coronavirus at seven Walmarts across the state beginning Friday, the latest development in the state’s push to expand testing and reopen an economy that’s been crippled by the pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday.
The massive retail and grocery chain is partnering with Quest Diagnostics for the tests, which residents will administer themselves at drive-thru sites outside the stores.
The sites will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays weekly from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., weather-permitting and by appointment only, through MyQuestCOVIDTest.com. (The sites will not be open on Memorial Day but will be available Tuesday next week before resuming its regular schedule.)
No testing will be done inside stores. Results will be available in roughly two days, Murphy said.
The Walmart locations include:
- 174 Passaic St, Garfield
- 2100 88th St, North Bergen
- 150 Harrison Ave, Kearny
- 152 NJ-31 N, Flemington
- 2106 Mt Holly Rd, Burlington Township
- 4900 Route 9, Howell Township
- 934 NJ-73, Mt. Laurel Township
Testing is for those 18 and older who meet guidelines federal, state, and local guidelines on who should be tested, including first responders, health care providers, and others with symptoms of COVID-19, as well as those in high-risk groups without symptoms.
Walmart pharmacists and trained medical volunteers will provide the kits. Residents must wear a mask and wait in their car as workers check their eligibility and ID. Those being tested will swab their nose under the guidance of a trained volunteer and drop the sealed sample into a container. Quest Diagnostics will then process the tests and provide the results.
The announcement comes about a week after Murphy said New Jersey is on pace to administer 20,000 tests a day by the end of the month. New Jersey had long been conducting only 7,000 to 9,000 tests a day.
The state reported about 10,000 new tests results between Monday and Tuesday. In all, there have been more than 530,000 tests in the state since the outbreak began in early March.
Murphy said Wednesday “a strong testing program is one of the foundational principles for our state’s road back to restart and recovery.”
“More testing means more people will know their health status and that means more peace of mind,” he said during his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “More testing creates more data and more data allows us to take more steps forward.”
On Tuesday, Murphy announced the state has given permission to 18,000 licensed pharmacists across New Jersey to administer tests. That will allow 2,200 pharmacies to conduct tests.
CVS and Rite Aid are also offering tests to residents in the state.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
New Jersey, a densely populated state of 9 million residents, has reported at least 10,747 deaths attributed to COVID-19, with at least 150,399 cases, since the outbreak began March 4. Only New York has more deaths and cases among American states.
Officials reported 168 new deaths and 1,670 new positive tests in New Jersey on Wednesday.
But with the state’s outbreak showing signs of slowing and the economy continuing to suffer, Murphy has slowly peeled back the near-lockdown orders he put the state under to battle the virus. He has allowed parks to reopen, permitted nonessential retail businesses to offer curbside service, and said beaches can be open for the summer.
On Monday, the governor outlined a multi-stage reopening plan and said the state is currently in Stage 1. Though he didn’t release a timeline to move through the stages, Murphy said the state can move past Stage 3 and into a “new normal” only after there’s a widespread vaccine or effective treatment for the virus. Residents will be asked to wear a face covering and practicing social distancing in public until then, he said.
Nearly 1.1 million New Jersey residents have filed for unemployment since mid-March, and many say they’ve been waiting for weeks to get paid and have struggled with the state’s busy phone and online systems.
The state government is predicting $10 billion in tax revenue losses through next year, and Murphy has warned of massive public-worker layoffs if the state doesn’t get more federal aid.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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