TOMS RIVER – In an effort to free up additional personnel to assist at COVID 19 vaccination clinics, COVID 19 testing at Ocean County College, here, will now be performed by Immediate Care.

"Making this change from Ocean County Health Department and hospital personnel will help us as we begin to expand our vaccination clinic capacity throughout the County," said Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Daniel Regenye. "We have been working in close coordination with the Ocean County Board of Commissioners to make this transition which will take place on Friday, March 26."

Immediate Care will handle the operations of the coronavirus testing site located at Ocean County College. The tests will continue to be done indoors at the Gateway Building on the Ocean County College campus.

Testing hours for Ocean County residents will continue to be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

To schedule an appointment for a COVID 19 test at the college, residents should visit https://www.solvhealth.com/book-online/gNNVXg. Identification and insurance card should be brought to the testing site.

Ocean County in partnership with the Ocean County Health Department, Ocean County Office of Emergency Management, Ocean County Office of the Sheriff, Ocean County Board of Commissioners and area hospitals opened the testing site at the college a year ago in March 2020 as the coronavirus began to make its way into the County.

Ocean County Commissioner Gerry P. Little, who is liaison to the Ocean County Health Department, noted that almost 30,000 COVID 19 tests have been administered at the college site since it opened.

As of March 23, Ocean County has recorded more than 57,000 cases of the coronavirus.

"This testing site has been run efficiently, providing these important tests for our County residents," Little said. "We have closely monitored the needs and consistently adjusted the hours of testing at the college to accommodate our residents. I appreciate the efforts of all the agencies involved in running this site."

The testing site located off of Hooper Avenue, here, provides tests for both symptomatic and asymptomatic County residents by appointment. It does not provide the COVID 19 vaccine. Proof of residency and appointments are required. All emergency responders can also access testing at the site.

"Testing shows if you have the virus even if you are asymptomatic," Regenye said. "This can help reduce the spread of the virus so long as people quarantine.

"We have always encouraged our residents to get tested," Regenye said.

Regenye said the health department staff and hospital staff that had been performing the tests will now be moved to future COVID 19 vaccination clinics operated by the Ocean County Health Department.

"We continue our planning of new clinic sites in addition to reviewing a host of opportunities to get our residents and in particular our seniors vaccinated," said Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Gary Quinn. "Having staff available is key once we start to see an increase in the number of vaccines we are getting from the state.

"That number remains at about 3,000 per week to our health department," he said. "We are optimistic that will change in the near future and we will see those numbers increase."

Residents can call 732-380-5079 or 1-833-544-0288 if they have general questions about the coronavirus, exposure, quarantine and spread, contact tracing, testing and the vaccine.

Regenye noted there are other locations and testing sites for asymptomatic people that have opened throughout the state with some located in Ocean County.

Two websites providing this information are: https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/testing and https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/testing#test-sites.