Gary Lopez’s office looks a little different these days. Thursday afternoon, it was an elementary school library. He’s leading a team giving rapid COVID-19 tests.

What You Need To Know

  • In order to test students and staff in yellow zone schools and bolster contact tracing, Onondaga County has shifted about 100 employees

  • Park Superintendent Gary Lopez is leading a team doing school testing

  • In eight days, the teams will test more than 7,500 school children

  • Other county employees are adding COVID-19 case investigations and contact tracing to their duties

“We learned on the fly," said Lopez, the superintendent at Oneida Shores Park. "I think a lot of this is — I don’t want to say making it up as they go along — but creating a system as we go along.”

A normal November day for Lopez includes mowing, putting equipment away, and closing up facilities. While on the road for COVID testing, he is still in touch with his team as they close up for the season.

“Being COVID and learning how to operate remotely back in March and April, when we were fairly closed up at the time, I learned how to get the messages off the machine through my cell phone," said Lopez. "I’m still able to bring my work computer home with me. I have it right here.”

Throughout the day, students and staff trickled in for testing. Dozens of schools are required to test 20 percent of their in-school student and staff members because they are in Onondaga County's yellow zone. Lopez helped sign them in and watched for the results. He’s one of dozens of county employees adding COVID-19 response to their job description.

“I want to thank our workforce who has really taken on this unprecedented challenge," said Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. "They will have tested over 7,500 school children in under eight days.”

Lopez says he’s happy to take on more responsibilities, because it means he's doing his part to fight the pandemic.