Mayor De Blasio Announces ‘Take Care Initiative’ to Help New Yorkers Safely Separate
The Test & Trace Corps is the City's comprehensive system to test and trace all positive cases of COVID-19
May 27, 2020
Mayor de Blasio today announced the Test & Trace Corps’ “Take Care Initiative,” the City’s program to help all COVID positive New Yorkers safely separate to prevent the spread of the virus. The City will provide free hotel rooms with wraparound services for New Yorkers who are unable to safely separate in their own homes and support those who are separating at home with designated Resource Navigators.
“Helping New Yorkers safely separate is, along with testing and tracing, the key to safely reopening our city,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Separating will help keep you and your loved ones safe—but it isn’t always easy. From providing free hotel rooms to delivering meals, your City is here to bridge the gap, and has your back each and every step of the way as you recover.”
Take Care
To help all New Yorkers ‘safely separate’ at home and monitor their health status, the Test & Trace Corps tracers will check-in via daily calls, text messages, and conduct in-person visits as necessary. These calls and texts will allow the monitors to gauge the progress of patients, ensure proper compliance with separation protocol, and connect patients to more supportive services as necessary.
Through partnerships with 15 community-based organizations across the city, Resource Navigators will help New Yorkers overcome logistical issues they may encounter while safely separating in their homes, such as access to basic services like food, medicine, and laundry. Two hundred Resource Navigators will be on the ground next week in communities across the city, with the intention to expand the program and hire additional navigators in the following weeks.
For any person who is unable to safely separate in their own home, the City will offer “Take Care Hotels” free of charge. Any doctor, nurse, or physician’s assistants across the city can email CommCareCP@nychhc.org to refer a patient to a room. If you don’t have a doctor, any symptomatic New Yorker can call 844-692-4692, the City’s COVID hotline and ask for the COVID Hotel Program. 1,200 rooms are available now, with the goal to expand the number of rooms to 3,000 by late summer.
Case Monitors and Investigators
Over 1,700 tracers have been hired to joined the Test & Trace Corp, surpassing the City’s goal to hire 1,000 tracers by June 1, with 700 hired from neighborhoods hardest hit by the virus. To ensure the Corps can meet the needs of New Yorkers from all backgrounds, 40 distinct languages are also spoken across the Corps.
New Testing Site
An additional 16 community testing sites will open through a partnership with AdvantageCare Physicians on June 1st. Appointments are encouraged, and those who are interested should call 866-749-2660 to make theirs today. Sites will be located across the five boroughs, with 3 sites in Brooklyn, 45 in Queens, 5 in the Bronx, and 1 on Staten Island.
An additional community testing site will also open this week at the Sorrentno Recreation Center in West Queens.
The following sites will open the week of June 1st:
Queens
Beach 39th Street Leavitt Field (Parking Lot)
1716 Bleecker Street
Bronx
1302 Edward L Grant Highway
921, East 228th Street
Week of June 8:
Brooklyn
4002 Fort Hamilton Parkway
6315 14th Avenue
Week of June 15:
Staten Island, Greenbelt Recreation Center
Week of June 22:
Queens, Jacob Riis Settlement House
Week of June 29:
Manhattan, Manhattan Ville Health Center
Bronx 4006 3rd Avenue