ASTORIA – New York State Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, and City Council Member Tiffany Cabán announced a new testing site, available December 24, then December 26 through 31 at the Variety Boys and Girls Club, 21-12 30th Road in Astoria. This comes one day after the three western Queens leaders called on the city to increase testing sites throughout the area.

“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. “While I continue pushing for a stronger program of permanent test sites as soon as possible, I am glad my colleagues and I were able to secure this new location.”

“Our neighbors have been forced to spend hours waiting in the cold for COVID tests. Some have then been turned away, and for the lucky that get tested, some never even receive their results. We have been calling on the City to remedy this immediately, and we continue to do so. But we cannot afford to wait any longer. We are in a crisis today, so we must respond today. I’m proud to have partnered with my colleagues, Variety Boys and Girls Club, and MetPath Laboratories 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

“I’m extremely proud to have teamed up with Senator Gianaris and Assembly Member Mamdani to secure this sorely needed new testing site. It’s a vital step in the right direction, and I’m eager to continue pushing for further increases in capacity,” said Council Member Tiffany Cabán.

“Our organization is here to serve the community.  We stand ready to answer the call of the needs of our neighborhood by providing a location for free COVID-19 testing.  Thank you to Senator Gianaris, Assembly Member Mamdani and Council Member Caban for your leadership to add additional testing in Western Queens and organizing to make this a reality,” said CEO Costa Constantinides of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens.

This test site is being run in conjunction with MetPath Laboratories. It will be open 8:30 AM through 5 PM daily, offering PCR tests. Results will be provided within 48 hours and insurance is not required.

Senator Gianaris, Assembly Member Mamdani, and Council Member Cabán have pushed the city for more testing in western Queens, including by making a mobile testing site located at Athens Square Park a permanent fixture.