SYRACUSE, N.Y. – At first, Ross McFarland thought all the commotion over the coronavirus was a joke.

But the 47-year-old Syracuse man changed his mind after developing a cough, runny nose and a 100-degree temperature. He felt so lousy Monday he didn’t go to work and called Upstate University Hospital’s coronavirus hotline (315-464-3979). The call-taker suggested he go to the Syracuse Community Health Center, which opened the area’s first coronavirus test site Monday.

A Syracuse police officer greeted McFarland Monday afternoon when he arrived at the center at 819 S. Salina St. and showed him where to park. The officer used his police radio to alert medical staff McFarland was waiting in the parking lot to be tested. A nurse dressed in protective clothing came out to McFarland’s car and showed him how to wear a surgical mask.

She then escorted him into the center through an entrance reserved for people seeking coronavirus testing, not the center’s general patient population.

Security guards armed with hand sanitizer were stationed at all the center’s entrances. They made everyone entering the building clean their hands.

The center tested more than 75 people during its first day of testing. Derrick Murry, the center’s chief operating officer, expects demand to increase after Onondaga County’s first two cases of coronavirus were reported Monday.

“We are glad to provide the service and help our community determine the prevalence of the disease,” Murry said.

Local hospitals have provided the center with gowns, masks, goggles and other gear staff on the front lines of the pandemic must wear to protect themselves while caring for suspected coronavirus patients.

County officials originally said the center’s testing program was intended primarily for people without regular primary care doctors. But Murry said the program is open to anyone who receives a referral through Upstate’s hotline.

Patients coming in for testing Monday were worried, Murry said. In addition to telling them how to take care of their physical health, staff also advised patients how to deal with the stress associated with the pandemic.

“We are being told not to congregate, not to go to the movies, not to go to dinner. There’s a great deal of anxiety,” Murry said.

McFarland works for JGB Enterprises in Liverpool.

“I thought this thing (coronavirus) was a joke at first, but now I think people are changing their minds about it,” McFarland said.

In an exam room at the health center, a nurse took McFarland’s temperature and other vital signs.

A nurse practitioner outfitted in what looked like a spacesuit shined a light in McFarland’s mouth and peered down his throat. She then asked him to tilt his head back and stay still. “This is going to be a little uncomfortable,” she said, before inserting a swab up his nose to collect a sample.

McFarland’s specimen was shipped to a Quest Diagnostics lab in Virginia. It will take three to four days to get results.

In the meantime, McFarland was told to stay out of work for four days, not leave his home and take Tylenol for his fever.

After McFarland left, a nurse wiped down the table and sterilized the exam room to prepare for the next patient.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

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· How fast is coronavirus growing in New York?

· Here are the latest closings of events

James T. Mulder covers health news. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com