STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city will begin contact tracing individuals who test positive for COVID-19 next month when widespread testing becomes readily available.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city’s new plan, Test and Trace, will be the only way to move from widespread transmission to low-level transmission of the coronavirus.

“It’s what you deserved all along and would have done if we had the testing from day one,” de Blasio said.

The plan to test and trace will not be able to begin until the city has access to more tests, de Blasio said. He said New York City has made “some progress on testing” but the federal government still has not done all it could to provide tests to the city.

Next month the city will be able to produce 50,000 test kits per week with the help of local companies and universities and will purchase an additional 50,000 per week from Aria Diagnostics, a private company in Carmel, Indiana.

“This does not let the federal government off the hook,” de Blasio said.

The city is scouting public buildings throughout the city where residents can get tested once the testing kits have been produced which will help ease the burden on hospitals and testing sites that are already established.

CITY WILL PROVIDE RESOURCES TO POSITIVE PATIENTS

De Blasio said if you test positive, the city will provide resources to help with every step going forward: transportation, isolation, medical, and re-testing.

An interview through a call center will take place to determine who the positive person has come in contact with so they can be tested as well. If those people have tested positive, they will be isolated and go through the same process.

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“Tracing is literally hunting down each and every individual who contracts this disease, following up with them and all of the people they’ve been in contact with. That’s where we have to go; to the maximum extent humanly possible,” he said.

If a person can’t be isolated at home, transportation to and from a hotel will be provided where a person can isolate for the 14-day period, he said.

De Blasio said it’s unfortunate what has happened to the hostel industry and its employees, however, it has opened up thousands of rooms for people to isolate.

When in isolation, food, laundry, and medication refills will be provided for those residents, as well as frequent tele-medicine check-ins with clinicians.

“We will be in constant contact with people in isolation,” he said.

Additionally, people will need to be re-tested after their isolation and symptoms are gone to see if they are still positive for COVID-19.

The mayor acknowledged that this is a huge undertaking, saying it will take “thousands and thousands” of people to do this the right away.

“We’re going to build an apparatus to keep expanding,” he said. “It’s going to be an intense fight.”

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