3 Long Island malls to get pop-up COVID-19 test labs Holiday shoppers will be able to get COVID-19 tests as they buy presents with the opening of pop-up labs at Long Island's Roosevelt Field mall, Smith Haven Mall and Walt Whitman Shops.
Eight-foot by 20-foot collection sites are scheduled to open in the mall parking lots by the end of November, marking the latest step in taking COVID-19 testing beyond hospitals and clinics.
The walk-up collection sites will offer two kinds of tests for active cases of COVID-19 and one antibody test to detect if someone contracted the disease previously and has since developed antibodies.
Tim Shelburn, chief operating officer of the unit of Toronto-based QuestCap Inc., which runs the testing sites, said the facilities will be staffed by three to six laboratory assistants.
"The key to this whole pandemic is testing" he said. "All the malls are expecting heavy holiday traffic."
Shelburn said that the company's contract calls for it to keep the facilities in place for the duration of the pandemic, though they could be repurposed as vaccination sites once those medicines are available.
Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Smith Haven in Lake Grove and Walt Whitman in Huntington Station are operated by Simon Property Group Inc., which has contracted with QuestCap to set up the testing facilities at more than 160 other locations nationwide.
Shelburn said the facilities would accept Medicare, Medicaid and all major insurance policies.
A rapid antibody test returning results the next day will cost $59 and the widely used PCR test for active coronavirus in which a swab is inserted deep into the nose will cost $179.
Antigen tests, also designed to detect the active virus, will cost $99.
Earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration cautioned health care providers to beware of false positives with antigen tests when users do not adhere to instructions.
https://www.newsday.com/business/coronavirus/covid-test-roosevelt-whitman-haven-mall-1.50059238