The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

COVID-19 Testing

COVID-19 Antibody Testing Available at Northern Westchester Hospital’s Center for Healthy Living

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Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) has issued a release announcing the availability of serology COVID-19 antibody testing for community members living in the villages, towns (and hamlets within the towns) of:  Armonk, Bedford, Chappaqua, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, Pleasantville, Somers, North Salem, Yorktown, Pound Ridge, and Mt Pleasant. In order to accommodate the local community with minimal wait times and to maintain appropriate social distancing guidelines, all individuals coming for a test must be pre-registered and will be expected to wear a mask. In compliance with NY State Department of Health (DOH) guidelines, effective immediately and through July 31, antibody testing is available at:

Center for Healthy Living

480 South Bedford Road, Chappaqua, New York, 10514

Located in Chappaqua Crossing – Next to Whole Foods. Ample Parking

Hours of Operation:

Antibody testing will be offered Monday through Friday between 7am and 3pm through July 31st.  You can come anytime during this designated time period.

Pre-registration is required 24 hours in advance and can be completed at https://bit.ly/3dFyuSG

Upon arrival please bring:

  • A copy of your confirmation email (from pre-registration). No prescription is needed but pre-registration is required.
  • A copy of your insurance card (copayments are waived)
  • Please know that you will be asked screening questions and will be masked upon entry per NYS regulation

Information about Antibody Testing:

What is serology (antibody) testing? After a simple blood draw, the antibody test may determine whether or not people who have been previously infected or exposed to COVID-19 have antibodies in their blood. Antibodies are proteins in the blood made by one’s immune system that help fight infection.

What does a negative result mean? Negative means that COVID-19 antibodies were not detected in your blood. Most commonly, this indicates you have not been infected with the COVID-19 virus. A negative result does not rule-out early or recent infection and antibody testing should not be used to diagnose COVID-19 infection.

What does a positive result mean? A positive result indicates that you have COVID-19 antibodies in your blood. This means you have been exposed to COVID 19 and developed antibodies. At this point scientists are unsure how detected antibodies impact immunity and protect against re-infection.  Therefore, it is important to note that regardless of your test result, it is essential that you continue to adhere to the Governor’s Executive Order and the New York State Department of Health guidelines for masking, social distancing and hand washing.

Why participate? Scientists are still working to understand many things about COVID-19, like how it travels from person to person, why it affects people differently, if it is a seasonal disease (meaning it can come back year after year like the flu), and if people can be infected again. That’s why these efforts are so important for you, your family and the community as a whole.

Reminder- Pre-registration is required 24 hours in advance and can be completed at https://bit.ly/3dFyuSG.

Participants will receive a confirmation email after successful pre-registration.  Please note that pre-registration takes 24 hours to be processed so please plan accordingly so there are no delays when you arrive for your test. 

Testing continues to be available for first responders and essential workers who live or work in the towns served by NWH and for family members of NWH staff.

Why participate? Scientists are still working to understand many things about COVID-19, like how it travels from person to person, why it affects people differently, if it is a seasonal disease (meaning it can come back year after year like the flu), and if people can be infected again. That’s why these efforts are so important for you, your family and the community as a whole.

Reminder- Pre-registration is required 24 hours in advance and can be completed at https://bit.ly/3dFyuSG.

Participants will receive a confirmation email after successful pre-registration.  Please note that pre-registration takes 24 hours to be processed so please plan accordingly so there are no delays when you arrive for your test. 

Testing continues to be available for first responders and essential workers who live or work in the towns served by NWH and for family members of NWH staff.

News and photo courtesy of Northern Westchester Hospital

 

Area Journalist Diagnosed COVID-19 Positive and Quarantined with Family

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March 19, 2020, Mount Kisco, NY–On Monday, March 16, I was on deadline for the Inside Press, covering the hasty switch local restaurants were asked to make by 8 p.m. to takeout and delivery service only, as coronavirus containment measures grew in severity here in Westchester County.

It was a sad article to write, as I attempted to speak with restaurant owners and managers who were busy, worried, and upset about the impact on their employees. As a former waitress and bartender, I was worried for them too. As a longtime reporter, I knew the community needed to follow this kind of news in as close to real time as possible, so they could see the impact on their favorite establishments and possibly help mitigate it with extra patronage. Due to the time crunch, and the need for social distancing, I conducted these interviews by phone and filed the article as quickly as I could.

Later, as I was doing laundry and tidying up around my house in Mount Kisco, I started to feel a little under the weather. Nothing major, just achy, with a headache. Maybe I felt a chill. I couldn’t take my temperature because our thermometer had broken and there hasn’t been a thermometer to be found in Mount Kisco for some time now.

I put another load in the dryer and called it a day, telling my husband that I hoped I wasn’t coming down with the flu.

The next day–St. Patrick’s Day–I decided to basically stay in bed. My kids are older now, so the college students home working remotely could keep an eye on the sixth grader. I asked my daughter Regina, a freshman at Baruch College-who’s still coming to terms with the cancellation of her softball season-to throw the corned beef in the crockpot and assigned the Irish soda bread to 14-year-old Ted.

Later, I woke up from a nap with chest pain. I have a minor cardiac condition, but I didn’t want to go to the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary since all resources are needed to fight the coronavirus. Instead, I called my internist’s office at Caremount first–my doctor said I had to go in.

Pretty soon I was at Northern Westchester Hospital, where I was handed a mask at the front door, and once in back, I was quickly surrounded by people in masks, clear face shields and yellow gowns. They efficiently got my heart issue under control and swabbed up both nostrils, testing for flu and COVID-19.

I was told I’d be there at least overnight, so they could keep an eye on my cardiac activity, and I was settled in on the sixth floor in isolation, connected to a heart monitor that never showed a problem after my initial treatment.

Today, 48 hours later, I’m lying in bed at home, a 50-year-old woman on day one of a 14-day quarantine that includes my entire family of nine (yes, my husband and I have seven kids.)

My test results only came back this morning, as I was preparing to be discharged. I was shocked that they were positive. Although I have asthma, my lungs had remained resolutely clear throughout my stay, checked often by skilled and kind nurses, and I’m still breathing well right now. My temperature hasn’t been over 100 degrees and is currently normal.

A cardiologist and an internist at NWH judged me well enough to be sent home and weather out the course of this illness with my family. One of the nurses supplied me with a thermometer that had been used on me, otherwise slated for disposal, and made me enough copies of a symptom log sheet to keep track of my whole crew.

By this time, just two days after I entered NWH, six of us are feeling sub-par and are in as much isolation as we can manage, but no one seems dangerously ill. The flu is much worse than what the Kelleys are experiencing so far with COVID-19–a little coughing, aches, fatigue and headaches.

My husband and kids won’t be tested. Both the doctor at NWH and the kids’ pediatrician asked that we operate under the assumption that they have it and monitor any symptoms to make sure no one has to go to the hospital. Nat, 24, spent all day yesterday sacked out, barely moving, but today is eating pancakes and sitting up reading to pass the time. He has special needs, so he keeps talking to me from across the hall, trying to convince me that because he feels better it’s okay if he leaves the room. No dice!

My daughters aren’t too debilitated to FaceTime friends and request coffee delivery from healthy brothers (left outside a closed door, of course.)

When I was told my test was positive, I picked up my phone and checked the Shoprite app, knowing I’d need food delivered. But all the spots were taken. Yes, we’ve done some stocking up–mostly because my husband took this whole thing seriously way before I did. But nine people eat an incredible amount of food, and a 14-day quarantine is quite different than social isolation, which now seems to me a lifestyle of enviable freedom.

Thankfully, family and friends have already offered meals and checked to see what they can get me at the store. Right after I arrived home, a friend from Katonah dropped packages of disinfectant wipes in my mailbox–another friend is currently cooking for us. Many of my older sons’ friends, guys in their twenties, have been texting in, offering to pick up whatever we need.

There’s a lot we don’t know right now. Will we flatten the curve? When will our economy rebound? When can we once more mingle freely with family, friends and co-workers?

I don’t know. I wish I did. I only have a few bits of knowledge to share from my brief initial experience with COVID-19: no one in my family is very sick, so far. I’m the only one with any of the comorbidities I’ve seen mentioned in the news, and I’m well enough to write this article (lying down.) Medical professionals have assured me that they think my family will be fine, and they’ve given me the tools I need to ascertain whether we need further care.

Our local hospital is well-run and reliable. The people who work there are not only friendly and dedicated, but inspire confidence with their professionalism and expertise, and I pray the curve flattens enough not to overwhelm them.

As an aside, the hospital is also continuously customer-service oriented; I was given a mini-loaf of banana bread tied up in a bow at discharge, attached to a card that says: “From our family to yours.”

Not in 14 days, but in some weeks or months more–who knows how many–I very much hope to write the article for Inside Press about the resurgence of the local restaurant business.

Until then, everyone, from my family to yours–stay home and stay safe.

Pre COVID-19: Author Amy Kelley on a happier day in New York City

 

Northwell Labs Begins Manual Testing of COVID-19 Samples

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One of nation’s largest, health system-run diagnostic labs

receives approval to perform COVID-19 testing

LAKE SUCCESS, NY – After a visit to its sophisticated, 100,000-square-foot diagnostic facility by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Northwell Health Labs today received state and federal authorization to begin manual testing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Utilizing a testing process developed and approved by the New York State Department of Health (DOH), Northwell’s Lab expects to manually test 90 potential COVID-19 samples within the first full day, said Dwayne Breining, MD, executive director of the Northwell Labs. With one of North America’s largest automated testing lines, the facility processes about 20 million tests annually. Beyond the manual testing authorized today, Northwell Labs is seeking the US Food & Drug Administration’s approval to use semi-automated testing within the next week. This would give the laboratory the capability to process hundreds of tests daily, with a plan to ramp up to thousands daily in the near future.

“Over the past week, we’ve been developing the test for COVID-19, thanks to the assistance we‘ve received from New York State’s DOH Laboratory,” said Dr. Breining. “Now that the accuracy of our testing process has been validated, we can begin notifying providers and patients of their lab results and start gearing up for an automated testing process that would enable us to significantly expand the number of samples we can process.”

While the expanded ability to test patients for COVID-19 will greatly enhance Northwell’s ability to manage patients with potential infection, testing will continue to be reserved for those at risk for severe disease and who have had confirmed close contact with an infected individual.

“Only people who meet that criteria will be tested – and that testing is currently being performed at hospital emergency departments and urgent care centers,” said John D’Angelo, MD, chair of emergency medicine at Northwell, which operates 18 emergency departments throughout New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. “Even as our testing capacity increases, we will continue to screen people judiciously so we can focus our attention on those most at risk for severe COVID-19 infection who require more-immediate and intensive medical attention. All others who are concerned about exposure but who have mild or no symptoms should recuperate at home.”

Built at a cost of $60 million and opened in 2019, Northwell’s Core Lab within the health system’s Center for Advanced Medicine in Lake Success performs testing for Northwell’s 23 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities, as well as thousands of physician offices and dozens of other hospitals, including NYC Health+Hospitals.


From left: New York State Commissioner of Health Howard Zucker, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Dr. Dwayne Breining and Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling tour Northwell Health Labs. Credit Northwell Health.

At a news conference Sunday morning, Governor Cuomo called on the federal government to speed up its authorization process to allow more clinical laboratories to begin testing for COVID-19.  “This is one of the most technologically advanced labs in the state of New York, and one of the most sophisticated labs in the United States of America. This lab can do high-throughput automated testing, which expands exponentially the number of tests that can be done,” Governor Cuomo said.  “Let’s increase as quickly as possible our testing capacity so we identify the positive people, so we can isolate them and be successful in our containment.”

Several hours after the Governor’s news conference, Northwell received approval to move forward with the manual testing.

Northwell Health President & CEO Michael Dowling praised the Governor and state Department of Health for their leadership in responding to the coronavirus epidemic. “I thank the Governor for not only giving us the support we need to begin testing for COVID-19, but also in declaring a state of emergency that will help expedite the procurement of emergency provisions, such as testing kits and cleaning supplies,” said Mr. Dowling

To prepare its lab to begin COVID-19 testing, Northwell has invested over $2 million in recent weeks for lab supplies and equipment, part of an overall outlay of more than $5 million the health system has spent over the past seven weeks on coronavirus preparation.

Click here to see video and photos of Northwell Labs’ testing process.  

 

This news is courtesy of Northwell Health.

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About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, about 750 outpatient facilities and more than 13,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 70,000 employees – 16,000-plus nurses and 4,000 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.