Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has closed the Parrish Hall drive-through Covid-19 testing site in response to a decline in positive cases and the easing of New York State Department of Health and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, the hospital announced on Monday.
The move follows the closure of East Hampton Town’s sole remaining testing site, in Wainscott, in January, also because of declining demand. In Suffolk County, hospital admissions for Covid-19 infection have fallen sharply since late December, when the daily average was 45 per 100,000 residents, per the C.D.C.
Brief spikes in February, from a daily average of 16 admissions per 100,000 residents between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2 to 21 per 100,000 residents between Feb. 3 and 9, and from an average of 19 per 100,000 residents to 24 per 100,000 residents over the following two weeks, have steadily declined since then. A daily average of nine admissions was recorded between March 24 and 30.
The county recorded 596 cases of Covid-19 infection during the week of March 23, with an average positive test rate of 3.3 percent. There were four deaths in the county during that span. An average of 86 people were hospitalized in the county between March 24 and 30.
Those seeking P.C.R. swab tests have been advised to visit a local urgent-care center or call their physician for guidance.