New York City will launch free COVID-19 antibody testing next week, with an eventual plan to let up to 140,000 people get tested to see if they've had the virus.
Tests will be offered by appointment in five neighborhoods: Morrisania, East New York, Upper Manhattan, Concord and Long Island City. The initial focus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, is to test people in those immediate neighborhoods.
The city, working with lab company BioReference, will test up to 5,000 people per day, with results returned in 24 to 48 hours.
De Blasio said appointment scheduling will begin this Friday with the launch of a new hotline, which will collect extensive demographic data from those being tested.