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COVID testing on New Haven Green closed until January due to staff, supply shortage

New Haven officials said the shutdown is due to “a combination of two things – shortage of personnel and a shortage of test kits.”

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The COVID-19 testing site on the New Haven Green will not be in operation until Jan. 4, Wren Laboratories announced on Wednesday.

New Haven Director of Emergency Operations Rick Fontana told FOX61 the shutdown is due to “a combination of two things – shortage of personnel and a shortage of test kits.”

RELATED: Governor's office reports delay with arrival of state's shipment of at-home COVID tests

Wren Laboratories also runs the testing site at 60 Sargent Drive. Officials say there were 300 cars waiting in line for tests before the Sargent Dr. location opened Wednesday morning, and crews sent kits and personnel from the New Haven Green site to the Sargent Dr. site, so they wouldn't have to send people away, Fontana said.

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Wren tweeted Wednesday evening they will only offer drive-up testing at their other saliva testing location in the city on Sargent Drive, as well as their testing locations in Middletown and Meriden. Wren says they are unable to honor any previously scheduled testing appointments for these locations, citing "overwhelming demand."

The company texted over 1,100 people Wednesday morning about the plans to shut down the Green testing location, but FOX61 is seeing reports of some people still getting appointment confirmation texts throughout the day.

LIST: COVID testing kit distributions by town in Connecticut

“I sympathize with people who went to the Green. We’re doing the best we can with what we have,” said Fontana.

He added that Wren's staff is doing a good job; many of the same staff members start their day at the Sargent Drive location and move to the New Haven Green for the afternoon.

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