DAVID DANZIS reports for the Atlantic City Press

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — An hour before a planned drive-thru food distribution for out-of-work casino employees was set to open, the line of waiting vehicles snaked around the Harbor Square shopping center and continued on for nearly a mile.

Workers and volunteers from the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch, and Unite Here Local 54 started passing out emergency food kits earlier than the scheduled 10 a.m. start time, as thousands of Atlantic City casino employees continued to show up Wednesday.

By 11 a.m., two 53-foot tractor trailers’ worth of food had been passed out. A third truck pulled in just as the second one was emptied, with hundreds of vehicles still lined up.

“We’re here for our members and our community, and we will continue to be there as long as we are needed,” said Donna DeCaprio, treasurer and financial secretary for Local 54.

The scene in Egg Harbor Township mirrored similar food distribution events throughout the area, as the business restrictions due to COVID-19 continued for a fifth week.

By noon, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 emergency food kits had been distributed to the unemployed casino workers, said Millie Sanchez, supervisor of mobile food distribution for the food bank.

Atlantic City opening two coronavirus testing sites next week

ATLANTIC CITY — Residents will be able to get tested for the novel coronavirus at either a drive-thru or walk-up site starting Tuesday, city officials said.

The city has partnered with Reliance Medical Group to open two COVID-19 testing sites at Bader Field and the Showboat Hotel Atlantic City. Testing at each site will be conducted two days per week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for four weeks.

Testing at the sites will be available only to Atlantic City residents who receive a doctor’s prescription and make an appointment on the city’s website.

The first day of testing at the walk-up site, in the Showboat parking lot between Delaware and Maryland avenues, will be for first responders. The following day, qualified residents can begin using the drive-thru site outside Surf Stadium at Bader Field.

Resident testing at the walk-up site will be conducted Tuesdays and Thursdays, while drive-thru testing will take place Wednesdays and Fridays.

“Atlantic City has taken an aggressive approach with the pandemic, since the beginning,” Atlantic City fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Scott Evans said Wednesday afternoon during a video news conference from City Hall. “Conducting testing is a very important, critical piece to help stop the spreading.” 

Mayor Marty Small Sr. has been trying to secure a testing location within city limits since last month. He offered Bader Field to both state and county officials as a testing site.

During a tour of the federal government’s field medical station at the Atlantic City Convention Center on Tuesday morning, Small hand-delivered the city’s testing site plans to Gov. Phil Murphy.

“We grabbed the bull by the horns, knowing that the good people of Atlantic City deserve to have their own testing site,” Small said.

Atlantic City received more than $786,000 in grant funding as part of the national coronavirus stimulus. Small said a portion of that grant funding will be used to pay for the testing sites.

To make an appointment at either of the Atlantic City COVID-19 testing sites, visit cityofatlanticcity.org or call 609-318-6990.

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