Mount Sinai South Nassau Partners with Town of Hempstead to Offer Rapid COVID-19 Testing to the Public at Oceanside Campus

Update: As of Wednesday, March 17, rapid testing is no longer being offered at our Washington Avenue drive-thru site. We have tested over 1,700 community members since partnering with the Town of Hempstead on this important no-cost initiative in early December 2020. For more information on where to find COVID-19 testing in your area, please visit https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you. Please also continue to check Mount Sinai South Nassau’s website at www.southnassau.org for more information about testing and vaccination in your community.

Mount Sinai South Nassau is partnering with the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County to begin offering rapid COVID-19 testing to the public at the hospital’s drive-through testing site in Oceanside.

The rapid tests will be offered at no charge. The drive-through site, located at the hospital’s Washington Ave. entrance, is scheduled to open to the public – by appointment only - on Tuesday, December 1st.

Testing will be provided by appointment only between 8 am to 4 pm Monday-Friday and Saturday 7 am to 11 am. To make an appointment for a test, call 516-390-2888 from Monday-Friday 7:30 am to 6 pm and Saturdays 8:00 am to 12 pm. Individuals 17 or younger must have written consent or be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to be tested.

The Town of Hempstead Town Board unanimously approved a grant on November 23, 2020, to Mount Sinai South Nassau to expand testing to the public, using $445,967 in federal CARES Act money that the Town received. To address the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the Five Towns community, Mount Sinai South Nassau partnered with Nassau County to establish two rapid testing sites there. The County has secured additional rapid test kits to allow Mount Sinai South Nassau and the Town to further expand testing at the hospital’s Oceanside campus. The CARES funding will help cover any additional tests kits that are required, staffing costs and infrastructure needed for the drive-through site.

“Expanding testing is one way to combat the virus,” said Richard J. Murphy, President & CEO of Mount Sinai South Nassau. “If you know you are positive, you can stay home and self-isolate, reducing the possibility of spreading the disease. We’re pleased to be teaming up with the Town of Hempstead to help meet demand for more testing in the communities we serve.”

“As Coronavirus infection rates rise across Long Island, we want to continue doing our part to expand free COVID-19 testing options for all Town of Hempstead residents,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said. “Through this collaboration with Mount Sinai South Nassau, we are now proud to offer free COVID-19 rapid testing to residents. Thank you to Mount Sinai South Nassau’s team of frontline heroes for providing top quality healthcare for our residents and working together as we combat the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“America’s largest township is committed to keeping residents safe in the midst of this second wave, and we are grateful to Mount Sinai South Nassau for collaborating with our township in this mission,” said Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito, whose district includes Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside. “We're proud to offer this free COVID-19 testing for all residents to help protect our communities during the pandemic."

“Robust testing has proven to be a vital tool to help contain the spread of COVID-19 and currently more than 10,000 residents are able to be tested for the virus per day.  But, as we see upticks in New York State and in our local communities, I am committed to further expanding testing throughout the County to ensure all residents readily have access to it.  Thank you to the team at Mount Sinai South Nassau for opening this drive-thru rapid testing site and for the life-saving work they do every day,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.

Mount Sinai South Nassau has already tested more than 10,000 patients at its Oceanside drive through site, but to date the testing has only been open to patients being admitted to the hospital or coming for a procedure. The two sites in the Five Towns tested over 800 residents from October 20, 2020-November 25, 2020.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence.  For more information, go to mountsinai.org/southnassau.