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The lines for COVID-19 tests in Manhattan lasted more than six hours on Monday, as New Yorkers rushed to get checked out before Thanksgiving.
Outside of a CityMD clinic on East 86th Street on the Upper East Side, the line spanned three blocks, on First Avenue and East 85th Street, by early afternoon.
A local couple said they had waited six hours, part of it in the rain, since 6:45 a.m. – and still had an hour left.
“We take turns coming home to put on more diapers and use the bathroom,” said John, 34, a technician who waits with his girlfriend.
“We’re getting the test results fast,” he says. “We have to, we’re going to her parents’ house in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Her mother is 65 and her father 63. “
Others were not so prepared for the long, cold wait.
“I didn’t know it would be that long,” said Jack, a 21-year-old student who showed up to the emergency care clinic at 11 a.m. – dressed in shorts and flip flops.
“Someone comes down with pants on,” he added.
He had just returned from Wake Forest University in North Carolina and said his mother was “testing” him before Turkey Day with his family.
“I’m doing the quick test to get the negative results before Thanksgiving we get from relatives,” the Upper East Side resident added. “She is worried.
Huge crowds lined up even as many medical experts and officials advise people to stay home for the celebration – and they shouldn’t necessarily be relying on a negative test result as a sign they are safe .
According to the Food and Drug Administration, rapid test results “are usually very accurate, but false positives can occur, especially in areas where very few people are infected with the virus.”
But that wasn’t going to stop California resident Sarabeth – who joined a six-hour queue outside another CityMD on West 88th Street after flying to the East Coast to share the vacation. with his family in Connecticut.
“My family won’t let me go near them without (a test),” Sarabeth, who works in real estate marketing, told The Post.
“I explained that I can test negative and have it, it really doesn’t mean anything. They don’t care. I am not allowed to enter the house without one.
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