NYC is full of hours of waiting for COVID-19 tests during the case

Instead of queuing to see Santa Claus or waiting to buy Christmas presents, New Yorkers stood for hours on Saturday to get COVID-19 tests while cases continued to rise.

Residents jerked while waiting for the nose samples to travel or because they thought they might have the virus.

At a city-run test and vaccination center in Times Square on Saturday afternoon, the waiting time was around three hours.

‘I’m cold and frustrated. We are in such a big city, there should be more alternatives available, said Alessandra Abate, 29, a doctoral student from Dumbo who had been queuing for two hours.

Abate needed the test to travel to Italy on Sunday to see her family.

“It̵[ads1]7;s literally impossible over the weekend to find a place,” she said.

A worker at the site said the wait was “the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen”.

But the worker, who only wanted to give his name as Cliff, added that there was no line for vaccines.

The frustration increased late in the afternoon when they were told in line that the lone person who tested had taken a lunch break.

Lisa Vastola, 34, from Hells Kitchen, who wanted to be tested for a possible virus exposure, said the city should know how to run the sites smoothly now.

“I see people giving up,” she said. “If there are too many lines, people will not be tested before the holidays.”

There were shorter queues at a Lab Worq pop-up tent on 47th St. and 6th Ave., but a worker said they would shut down early because they had less than 20 test kits left around 3:45 p.m.

Danny Lin, 21, who is traveling Monday for a vacation on Curaçao, said he had already been to another location on 34th St. that ran out of tests.

“I have to get it today,” he said.

At CityHealth Urgent Care in Kew Gardens, teacher Terri Huckabee said she had a cold and was waiting for a test to rule out COVID-19.

“Yesterday I went to three places, including this one and just gave up,” said Huckabee of Queens Village. “They had capacity and took out tests, so I just went home.”

She said she left one place because it was crowded and lacked ventilation, and she did not feel comfortable.

“If there is an increase, the city should really increase the game because this is not good,” she said.

At a CVS next to the clinic, a worker said that the test kits at home flew out the door.

“We got three boxes on the shelf this morning, and they were sold out in the middle of the day,” the workers said.

City officials said Thursday that test times at city locations will be extended and test kits at home will be distributed if queues become too long.