As the COVID-19 situation in Broome County continues to improve, off-campus students may find themselves with fewer COVID-19 testing options in the near future.

On March 10, the Broome County Office of Emergency Services announced that the rapid testing site on Front Street in Binghamton, by the Broome County Health Department, will be closing permanently. This comes after the center was temporarily closed following damage from a windstorm on March 7. The site was one of several major testing centers in Broome County.

About 200 tests per day were administered beginning in September 2021 when the Binghamton site was first opened. However, in recent weeks, the tests administered amounted to only 20 to 30 tests per day, according to WBNG. Broome County has also recently been listed as a county at low risk for COVID-19 transmission by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after being listed as high-transmission just weeks prior.

As of March 19, Broome County has seen a 34 percent drop in positive cases in a 14-day period, which set the county’s positivity rate at 4 percent. The number of hospitalizations each day have also dropped, with around 30 COVID-19-related hospitalizations reported.

County officials said they were confident in their decision to close the testing site. Chris Whalen, executive assistant to Broome County Executive Jason Garnar, referenced the low infection rate as evidence that the timing of the closure aligned with the needs of the county.

“This was the appropriate time to close down the site and redeploy the resources being used there for other duties within the county,” Whalen wrote in an email. “The rapid testing site was initially opened at a time when walk-in clinics and emergency rooms were being inundated and there was a high need in the community for additional testing.”

Broome County saw a raise in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant swept over the population between January and February. In the fight against COVID-19, the county has learned much about how to handle future variants and pandemics, according to Whalen.

“COVID-19 required a response unlike any other in the history of Broome County,” Whalen wrote in an email. “It was coordinated with virtually every department in the county and required constant communication between all county leaders, health care leaders, community partners and the public. We now have a new playbook that can be implemented for any emergency response in the future.”

Broome County will continue to make decisions in accordance with the state and with CDC guidelines, according to Whalen. Whalen encouraged community members to keep up with the safety practices of the past two years — such as to self-isolate, wear a mask when necessary and get tested.

Victoria Stirpe, an off-campus resident and senior majoring in integrative neuroscience, appreciated the steps that the county has taken in the past and looked to other options for future testing. However, Stirpe was concerned about individuals not reporting positive cases.

“Broome County is probably trying their best to combat everything that is going on,” Stirpe wrote. “I have never used the resources at the rapid testing center in Binghamton. At-home tests are more accessible now, the issue there is that some people may not report positive results which is concerning.”

Alex Umiker, an off-campus resident and a sophomore majoring in political science, agreed with the county’s decision to close the center.

“I believe that Broome County made that decision for a reason, that being there are more at-home test kits available and the decline in cases,” Umiker wrote. “I think that we are moving forward and past this pandemic and shutting down the testing site is a step in that direction.”

Umiker said he appreciated efforts taken by Binghamton University in regard to COVID-19 testing and surveillance.

“I think the testing center at the University is a valuable resource that keeps our students safe,” Umiker wrote. “I live off campus but at [U Club Binghamton], which makes the University testing center closer for me to go to. The closing of the Front Street testing site does not affect me like it would students and residents living in the city of Binghamton.”