The MTA launched its free COVID-19 testing program on Monday morning at Grand Central Terminal and the Times Square-42nd Street subway station, hoping to help the city fight the ongoing surge in virus cases linked to the Omicron variant.
The free PCR tests are available each day (except New Year’s Day, Jan. 1), seven days a week, at the Times Square station from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at Grand Central Terminal from 3 to 8 p.m.
Beginning this Thursday, Dec. 30, the MTA will also provide free COVID-19 tests at five additional subway stations:
- Penn Station (Manhattan), open Monday through Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m.
- Broadway Junction (Brooklyn), open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- East 180th Street (Bronx), open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Roosevelt Avenue (Queens), open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Jamaica-179th Street (Queens), open Monday through Friday from 2 to 7 p.m.
“The recent COVID surge means we need to maximize the number of testing locations, including within the mass transit system,” said acting MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Thanks to Governor Hochul, all agencies of government are joining forces to ensure that New Yorkers can get a vaccine, a booster, or a test quickly and conveniently.”
As noted, the program mirrors the pop-up vaccination program that the state launched in the subway system in May of this year, providing more than 37,000 New Yorkers with COVID-19 vaccines.
As of Monday morning, pop-up vaccination sites at the Times Square and Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue stations began offering COVID-19 booster shots. For more information, visit mta.info.
