JFK, LaGuardia Airports to Become COVID-19 Testing Sites

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday the state will install COVID-19 testing sites at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, looking to more quickly identify incoming travelers who might have the coronavirus.

JFK and LaGuardia, both located in New York City, are the state’s largest airports with the most passenger traffic.

“We’re actually setting up testing sites at our airports,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “We’ll be able to do faster testing of people coming in, including hospital staff.”

The city has just reopened its museums and cultural institutions for visitors.

Cuomo has been proactive in fighting the spread of COVID-19, taking New York from having the highest rate of positive tests and deaths in the early days of the virus to having one of the lowest infection rates in the country at the moment. Part of that has been due to New York’s requirement that anyone visiting the state from 34 other states and two territories must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

Those coming in on flights from the affected states are required to fill out a form with their local contact information, according to Gannett News Service, and where they intend to quarantine. Failure to fill out the form before leaving the airport can result in a $2,000 fine.

The testing sites at JFK and LaGuardia will be set up by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (which operates the two airports, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport just across the Hudson River from New York City in New Jersey) and New York City Health + Hospitals, which operates the city’s public hospitals and clinics.

The Port Authority has already launched a program called XpresCheck at JFK’s Terminal 4 at the end of June, offered to airport and airline workers.