ASTORIA – Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, and Council Member Tiffany Cabán announced another new testing site, starting December 27 and running through the end of January at the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Astoria. This comes a week after the three western Queens leaders called on the city to increase testing sites throughout the area, and previously announced another temporary testing site also at the Variety Boys and Girls Club.

“The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has created great new demand for COVID testing. Western Queens is underserved by the number of testing sites available, and we need more – now,” said Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris. “Working with my colleagues, we continue delivering real results here in western Queens – it’s time the city does the same.”

“NYC is the epicenter of the Omicron variant today and yet it can still take hours in the cold for our neighbors to get tested. We have been calling on the City to remedy this immediately, and we continue to do so. But we cannot afford to wait, and I’m proud to continue partnering with my colleagues and Variety Boys and Girls Club to bring another testing site to Astoria. This will bring some much-needed respite to our constituents, though the true solution to this crisis continues to be the City rapidly scaling and staffing up a testing operation that meets the true demand of New Yorkers,” said Assembly Member Zohran K. Mamdani.

“With Omicron continuing to surge, it is vital that we continue to increase our capacity to test, treat, and vaccinate our neighbors. This is another important step toward meeting the scope of the public health emergency we face. I’m proud partner with my colleagues to do all we can to keep our constituents safe,” said Council Member Tiffany Cabán.

“Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens is glad to work with Senator Gianaris to provide the community with another testing site. With the need for testing in Western Queens so great, we want to serve the community and ensure testing can continue for the month of January and beyond if needed. Thank you to our senator for his commitment to making this happen for our neighborhood,” said CEO Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens Costa Constantinides.

Senator Gianaris, Assembly Member Mamdani, and Council Member Cabán have pushed the city for more COVID testing in western Queens, including by making a mobile testing site located at Athens Square Park a permanent fixture. Last week, they announced a temporary testing site at the Variety Boys and Girls Club operating through December 31st. The new testing site will be operated by Ridgewood Diagnostic Laboratories.