Long Testing Lines Leave New Yorkers Feeling Frustrated
Taken outside of a CityMD in Midwood, Brooklyn.
The ever-growing lines at COVID-19 testing sites in NYC are a disturbing indicator of the basic public health crisis we are still facing. New Yorkers are braving insanely long lines in the cold and rainy weather to get tested for the virus, as we brace ourselves for a second deadly wave. Some people wait in these lines because they need the test for work or school. Some fear that they may have potentially been exposed, or are hoping that by getting a test they will be able to safely celebrate the holidays with their loved ones. And some, discouraged by the idea of standing for over three hours in the cold end up walking away untested.
The escalating demand for testing emphasizes how a second wave of the virus is threatening New York City, and it comes as the country as a whole combats record numbers of new cases — more than 251,447 nationally as of December 18th. Some governors have stated that they are seriously considering adding more restrictions in their desperation to curb the outbreak. President Trump has said that the vaccines for the virus could be widely spread by the spring; however, he has threatened to withhold them from New York state because of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s criticism of the administration’s distribution plan.
According to the Covid Tracking Project, approximately 1.5 million people are being tested per day. That’s nearly double the number in August and way more than the first wave of the pandemic in the spring when there was much less testing capacity. Public health systems across the country are once more straining under the need for testing. NYC clinics and other testing sites have been overwhelmed by the immense amounts of people seeking to be tested.
In late November, the chairman of the council committee on Health, Manhattan Democratic Councilman Mark Levine, tweeted, “Long lines already again today at testing sites in NYC, especially CityMD. Some waits have been over 3 hrs long this week. Zero appointments available at Health Dept rapid testing sites. Demand for testing is surging as NYC enters its second wave. We need to expand testing sites-fast.”
While there are hundreds of free testing sites and urgent-care facilities across the five boroughs, their functionality is a complete mess. Blocks-long lines have become so mainstream that people have begun to cheat the system by hiring TaskRabbits to hold their spots or even cutting.
Here are a few more clever testing tips:
Check wait times at your nearest Health + Hospitals location.
Testing sites run by the city’s (free) Health + Hospitals system typically have shorter wait times than private urgent-care clinics such as CityMD. There are tons of locations, from health centers to hospitals, to new pop-up sites (look up the nearest to you here) — and no appointments are necessary. Still, there are no guarantees. Depending on where and when you go, there can be almost no wait time to upwards of two hours. Writer Caroline Spivack of Curbed.com spoke to New Yorkers and discovered that Jacobi Medical Center, Harlem Hospital Center, 196 Albany Avenue in Crown Heights, 8515 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, and St. Albans Church in Jamaica had relatively short waits.
Go to a quickie site.
There are nine (also free) city-run COVID Express Quickie Lab sites. You can get your results within 24 hours, but typically people receive their results between four and five hours. These sites require appointments, and they fill up fast, so be vigilant! Slots are released 48 hours ahead of time; if you want an appointment for a Wednesday, book it on a Monday around midnight.
Try a (non-CityMD) walk-in spot.
Kāmin Health’s Urgent Care Center on 555 Lefferts Avenue in Crown Heights (there are two other NYC locations, in Borough Park and Fresh Meadows), and Asisa Urgent Care at 667 Myrtle Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant has also proved speedier than other locations for some New Yorkers. It is always a good idea to call ahead of time to ask about wait times, but these locations have been known to have startlingly short lines. The MedRite Urgent Care walk-in clinic at 521 West 42nd Street, (also located in Midtown East, Park Slope, and the Upper East Side) has comparably short lines and you can receive your results within 20 minutes.
Go to a pharmacy.
The trouble with this option is that only a limited number of insurance companies currently cover these tests. But the lines have been known to be considerably shorter than at other locations.
The fact is, no matter where or when you go, getting tested in NYC is a serious issue. People could be seen standing on an outrageously long line outside the Midwood Pre-K testing site on Coney Island Avenue during the snowstorm last week. That is unacceptable. Standing out in the cold for hours on end can cause people to pick up the viruses that linger in the air. High wind speeds also cause viruses to spread faster. The stark contrast between the temperature outside the building and the temperature inside can also adversely impact the body’s immune system.
There are other health risks as well. "There's a good body of research evidence that shows standing a lot, it's actually bad for your health," said Peter Smith, a senior scientist at the Institute for Work & Health and an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
"There are things like blood pooling in your legs, the venous return, the pressure on your body to pump blood back up to your heart from your legs, and that can increase your oxidated stress which can increase your risk of heart disease." These health concerns impact testing along with the fact that many people just can’t weather the cold or stand for hours on end. How are the elderly or disabled supposed to do this? Even if you’re not a part of those groups, it just feels like torture. This will lead to fewer people getting tested as they give up on the wait.
We have some hope though, CityMD recently sent out an email blast saying that they have implemented a virtual line system for patients requesting COVID-19 testing. The new system aims to provide an easier experience by eliminating the need to stand on a physical line outside of select CityMD locations. The virtual line system is expected to be available in all locations by early January 2021.
But CityMD is a separate entity from the government, and shouldn’t be feeling all the weight of this issue. Clearly, the current process in place is not working, and it cannot go on. They must implement new strategies to reduce the massive testing lines across the city as we head into the depths of winter. Roughly a month ago Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city’s Health+ Hospitals network would post wait-time updates three times a day on Twitter pointing people to testing sites with the shortest waits. Since then nothing else has been done to help improve the situation. But it is critical that some action is taken before the vaccine is available to the general public.
We New Yorkers can play our part to pressure our local government to establish more testing locations around the city. To affect real change though we must tirelessly pursue government officials. Persistence is key. Write an email to the mayor’s office outlining your idea that could potentially help the current crisis. For example, turning election poll locations into testing sites. Train more people to administer tests because it’s not necessary for the test to be given by doctors. By doing so we can employ hundreds of New Yorkers while shortening lines.
Contact the mayor at his office by postal mail, phone, or submitting a webform message. If you don’t receive a response, continue to email the office, don’t get discouraged. You have to hold an unshakeable idea of what’s possible that the government can deliver. Match your persistence with patience and understand that it will take time to see real change in local government. If you have a realistic idea of what our government could be doing right now, let them know! You could help change the way New York is approaching COVID-19 testing.
You can send post mail to Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Hall, New York, NY 10007. To speak directly to the mayor’s office call 311 or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC. You can also submit a webform and send an online message to the mayor’s website.
