Traffic comes to a standstill in New Jersey as thousands arrive for its first drive-up coronavirus testing - forcing military to turn people away after reaching full capacity in four hours - as US registers 4,000 cases per DAY and rising (20 Pics)
New Jersey's first drive-thru coronavirus testing site has been forced to turn people away after reaching full capacity just hours after opening - as health officials in full protective gear tested people in New York and some patients lined up on foot outside a Brooklyn hospital.
Hundreds of cars lined up outside New Jersey's first large-scale drive-up testing site at Bergen County Community College in Paramus from 8am on Friday.
Health officials had said the drive-up testing facility had the capacity to take in 2,500 specimens a week.
But authorities were forced to close off the entrances to the site just four hours after opening due to a surge in demand.
The line was cut off at about 1,000 cars but officials warned that even those waiting in that line may have to return another day to get tested.
Police said the testing facility would reopen as scheduled on Saturday morning.
New Jersey's first drive-thru coronavirus testing site was forced to turn people away after reaching full capacity just hours after opening on Friday
Hundreds of cars lined up outside New Jersey's first large-scale drive-up testing site at Bergen County Community College in Paramus from 8am on Friday so they could be tested
Authorities were forced to close off the entrances to the site just four hours after opening due to a surge in demand
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state would be greatly increasing its testing capabilities with the statewide total now reaching 890 on Friday.
'To be clear: the number of positive tests is rising, in part, because of expanding capabilities from private labs. We expected these numbers, and we expect them to keep rising, in the short-term, as greater testing capabilities come online,' Gov. Murphy warned.
Meanwhile in New York, people lined up outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center on Friday to be pre-screened for coronavirus before being allowed inside the facility.
In Staten Island, health officials in full protective gear could be seen approaching vehicles at one of its drive-up testing facilities.
There are now more than 7,000 positive cases in New York state and 35 deaths. There are 4,400 confirmed cases in New York City alone.
It comes as the Obama administration's Ebola czar issued a stark warning that coronavirus cases are set to 'explode' in the US as America now reports more new daily cases of the virus as China did at the apparent peak of the outbreak there.
Ron Klain, who served as President Barack Obama's 'Ebola czar,' warned that Americans need to prepare for a massive spike in coronavirus cases and deaths over the next few weeks.
'We're really at the inflection point here, where this disease is really going to explode in the U.S.,' Klain told Yahoo News' Skullduggery podcast on Thursday.
Meanwhile, drive-thru coronavirus testing sites are starting to pop up across the country with the government vowing to ramp up testing.
Americans with suspected coronavirus infections headed to drive-thru testing sites at hospitals, with their doctor's referral, this week where they were met by healthcare workers in protective gear who swabbed their noses through an open window.
The goal is to ramp up testing, the lack of which has been a major obstacle to understanding the extent of the pandemic, reduce pressure on emergency rooms and keep patients in cars to avoid spreading the infection.
Leading US retailers, including Walmart, Target, Walgreens and CVS pledged at a White House news conference last week to provide space for the drive-thru sites in their parking lots.
Admiral Brett Giroir of the U.S. Public Health Commission told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that drive-thru test centers were 'blossoming all over the country' but added the initiative had faced some early challenges.
People wait in their cars for being tested at a new drive-thru coronavirus disease testing center at Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey
U.S. army soldiers stand guard near the new drive-thru coronavirus disease in New Jersey on Friday
The line was cut off at about 1,000 cars but officials warned that even those waiting in that line may have to return another day to get tested
People wait in their cars for being tested at the new drive-thru coronavirus testing facility in New Jersey
Medical staff in protective gear administer a COVID-19 test at the drive-thru testing center in New Jersey on Friday
Workers wearing protective suits carry out COVID-19 tests inside a 'Hot Zone' tent, at a state-managed coronavirus drive-through testing site in Staten Island, New York
The public health commission was 'really pushing equipment' to 47 centers in a dozen states, after doing a trial run on Monday with public health staff in protective gear, Giroir said.
About 140 US public health staff would be deployed to the sites along with state health workers, he said.
'We had a lot of kinks in the system, as you can expect,' he said. 'That's why we do a test before we go out into the field... They're going to be adapted to the state and the local situation, but we're very confident that these will add testing to the already very robust healthcare system.'
CVS spokesman TJ Crawford said the pharmacy chain was preparing this week to launch a pilot drive-thru testing site in the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Initial testing would be limited to first responders and local healthcare professionals who are on the frontlines of treating the virus and preventing its spread, he said.
About 80 people had visited the drive-up testing location at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut by late Wednesday morning, according to a police officer at the entrance to the site, which had been set up in a covered parking garage.
The testing site, one of a handful established at hospitals in Connecticut, was accepting people by appointment only. Some visitors who showed up without an appointment were directed how to make one and come back later, the officer said.
A handful of other drive-thru tests at hospitals have started up in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and California.
People who believe they have COVID-19 and who meet the criteria wait in line to be pre-screened for the corona virus outside of the Brooklyn Hospital Center on Friday
In New York, people lined up outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center on Friday to be pre-screened for coronavirus before being allowed inside the facility
A medical professional talks to people at a coronavirus testing site set up by a private urgent center on the sidewalk in the Boro Park neighborhood of Brooklyn on Friday
Medical staff stand outside a COVID-19 screening tent of the Brooklyn Hospital Center on Friday
Illinois and New York join California in issuing stay at home order, putting 70 MILLION Americans under lockdown
Illinois and New York state joined California on Friday in ordering all residents to stay in their homes unless they have vital reasons to go out, restricting the movement of more than 70 million people in the most sweeping efforts yet in the U.S. to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The governors of the three states acted in a bid to fend off the kind of onslaught that has caused the health system in southern Europe to buckle. The three states encompass the three biggest cities in America: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The governor of New Jersey also announced on Friday afternoon that he is likely to 'tighten' the state's social distancing rules tomorrow by a considerable amount.
'No, this is not life as usual,' New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as the death toll in the U.S. topped 200, with at least 35 in his state. 'Accept it and realize it and deal with it.'
Cuomo announced sweeping orders that will severely restrict the ability of more than 19 million New York state residents to gather and socialize and to require workers in nonessential businesses to stay home.
Starting Sunday, all workers in nonessential businesses must stay home as much as possible, and all gatherings of any size will be banned.
Cuomo wants New Yorkers to remain indoors to the 'greatest extent.' Nonessential gatherings of individuals of any size or for any reason are canceled or postponed, including parties and celebrations.
Essential workers will be able to gather and people will be able to walk outside or take part in non-contact activities, but should not be 'playing basketball with five other people,' Cuomo said.
He acted after California all but confined its 40 million residents Friday in the biggest lockdown in the nation.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a similar order set to take effect on Saturday for the state's 12.6 million people.
California, New York and Illinois have now ordered all non-essential businesses and services to close their doors to try to stunt the spread of coronavirus. Restaurants can stay open for deliveries and take-out if they are able to stay afloat
Taking matters into their own hands: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) announced a shut down of all non-essential businesses on Friday, a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (center) issued his own. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a 'shelter-in-place' order on Friday afternoon, according to sources
Exceptions were made for vital jobs and errands, such as grocery shopping and obtaining medicine, as well as exercise.
Their actions came within hours of Trump shouting at a journalist in a White House briefing who asked him what he had to say to Americans who were frightened by the pandemic.
Trump said on Friday that he 'does not think' he will issue a national quarantine because some states are not as badly affected as others
The president has refused to issue a national shut down because some states are not as badly affected by the pandemic as others.
Asked if he would consider it, he said: 'I don't think so.
'California and New York have done that. I don't think so, you go out to the mid-west and other locations and they're watching their television but they don't have the same problem,' he said.
The economy has already taken an enormous hit and will continue to suffer, with millions going out of work and now having to worry about whether or not they will lose their homes.
Defending his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an angry President Trump lashed out at reporters and broke with his own health officials on the science of the outbreak.
Trump said he was tapping the Defense Production Act to order American businesses to manufacture and send supplies, like testing kits, ventilators and masks, to hospitals preparing to be overwhelmed by a wave of coronavirus cases. But he gave conflicting accounts as to when he officially invoked the rarely used order - and even if he had ultimately done so - and did not specify which companies he was marshaling for the effort. Trump had said earlier in the week he would tap the act as needed; he then added Friday that he has put that 'in gear.'
The president also announced an effective closure of the U.S. border with Mexico, prohibiting most travel except for trade. That brings it in line with the restriction on the Canadian border earlier this week. The U.S. is also suspending interest on student loans to help young people cope with job losses and the financial crunch.
As Congress debated a financial relief package that could reach $1 trillion, officials again urged Americans to maintain social distancing. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, applauded strict new measures put in place by the governors of California and New York to limit mobility.
But Trump and Fauci broke openly during the White House briefing on the possible effectiveness of new drugs being explored to treat the virus. Trump said he believed that a combination of medications he announced Thursday would work to treat the virus. Fauci said no such declaration could be made without testing, again highlighting the sharp divide between data-driven health officials and a president who admits he follows his gut.
The president spent much of the Friday briefing in a fury, sparring with reporters he deemed overly critical of the response. And he again painted an unrealistically rosy picture of the outlook, as doctors and nurses have already made desperate appeals for help even as the anticipated wave of new patients has yet to hit.
