Lines Plague NYC Coronavirus Test Sites Ahead Of Thanksgiving

NEW YORK, NY — A rush to get a coronavirus test before Thanksgiving has brought hours-long lines back to the city's COVID-19 testing sites, a concerning sign that many are still planning to travel and socialize for the holiday despite New Yorkers staring down a second lockdown after the holiday.

Lines at test sites — particularly CityMD centers, the city's largest urgent care provider — snaked for blocks across all five boroughs on Friday, leaving even those who showed up before the facilities opened waiting for three or four hours before getting inside.

"I got there at 7:18 a.m. and was 36th on line," said Betsey Cadel, who waited three and a half hours at a CityMD on the Upper West Side, which opened at 8 a.m. "Within about 15 [minutes] it was twice as long and wrapped around Amsterdam."

Cadel and others suspect the long lines are due to people getting tested before spending time with family next week. They have only lengthened — in New York City and across the country — as the holiday gets closer.

Francine Ricchi, who runs a Twitter account specifically dedicated to monitoring CityMD lines, said the site near her building on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn had almost double the number of people on Friday than the highest number she counted all of last week.

A CityMD in Williamsburg also has spiked in popularity.

"This is the worst it's been so far," said Mariah Fabiano, who was going on four hours waiting in a line at the Williamsburg CityMD site at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Fabiano, who was getting tested before driving to Michigan to see family, said she had gotten tested a few weeks ago at the same location and hadn't waited nearly as long.

In Williamsburg, the long lines even captured the attention of a local coffee brand, which set up a mobile cafe cart on the sidewalk to serve up beignets and drinks to those waiting.

The man running the Cafe Du Monde cart, David Leach, told Patch he hoped the offerings could bring some joy to the melancholy crowd.

"I was walking by the other day and it just seemed so dark — there was no music, it was very quiet," he said. "I was like, 'Man if I can just bring 1 percent more happiness to that.'"

The pre-Thanksgiving testing comes even as health officials encourage New Yorkers not to travel or even see local family for the holiday. There is a 10-person gathering limit in New York as coronavirus cases increase across the state.

But many, it seems, haven't taken travel plans off their plates.

"So far this morning, I’ve seen a significant number of patients requesting testing because they’ll be traveling and seeing family members for Thanksgiving," one New York City doctor TweetedFriday. "It seems like the public is *not* getting the message that everyone needs to stay home."

But not all people caught up in the long coronavirus testing lines are in search of tests specifically for the holiday.

Another person on the Williamsburg line, Dylan Flynn, said he was getting tested because someone at the restaurant where he works came down with the virus.

The long lines took him by surprise, Flynn said, but he said he didn't hold anything against those who were seeking a test as a precautionary measure. He had been waiting three and a half hours when Patch spoke with him Friday.

"I get it — people want to go home and get tested," Flynn said, adding that he has older parents and would be worried about exposing them. "More tests are for the better."

Cadel told Patch that she and her husband were getting tested at the Upper West Side site after learning a friend who they had over for dinner tested positive.

The dinner had been only the second time she had a visitor at the apartment in nine months.

"We were those people who were very, very cautious and judged everybody," she said. "Even when you think you’re being cautious — there is always a risk."