BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Broome County's COVID-19 numbers are surging, with hundreds of new cases in the last couple of weeks.

This prompted the state to supply rapid testing in one of the region's hot spots.

A transit bus has now been converted into a mobile testing site and could move to areas with higher numbers.

"It's the only rapid testing site that is out in the community, in the hot spot, where the health department wants to target testing and make sure that we identify as many positives as possible so the health department can quarantine and contact trace and prevent that virus from spreading," said Broome County Emergency Services Director Mike Ponticello.

The site provides around 100 to 150 tests a day.

Residents are asked to pre-register but a small number of walk-up visitors are welcome.

"We've been seeing that the slots have been filling really quickly and we had opened the registration earlier in the week until the end of this week and they filled up on Wednesday," said Ponticello.

When someone arrives at the site, they're signed in, enter the bus for a test, and then they're moved to a waiting area.

A short time later, they're given their results.

"The results to process take around 15 minutes on the machine. Depending on volume, your wait time may be a little bit longer than that, but the machine itself, once the test goes in takes about 15 minutes," said Ponticello.

With a limited number of tests available, officials are targeting their efforts.

"These machines are specifically for somebody that has been exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 in the last seven days, so if you've had COVID symptoms, these machines are designed to detect it," said Ponticello.

The mobile testing site will be in Broome County for at least another week.