We are trying to eradicate that by putting tests right where the people are,' Gov. Testing and vaccination booths will also be set up at some subway stations as well, the governor said, including the Grand Central and Times Square stations starting Monday. New testing locations are set to open at Travers Park in Jackson Heights, Queens Valley Playground in Flushing, and Helen Marshall playground in East Elmhurst. It had one of the shortest testing lines around, as compared to lines at Elmhurst Hospital, which featured hours-long waits. There was some relief in Jackson Heights on Wednesday, where the first federally run testing site was up and running. Many in the city are fed up with the long lines outside of testing centers, many of which stretch down multiple blocks, as well as the increased wait times for results - both products of a heavy increase in demand compared to the autumn months. That ain’t close to enough,” Schumer said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who joined de Blasio at his news conference Wednesday and was honored with a key to the city, said he's asking the federal government to send the city 100 mobile testing sites.

Andrew Siff, Greg Cergol, Brian Thompson and Gus Rosendale have team coverage. Team coverage of the fight to contain the omicron variant of the coronavirus. 'I just wanted to know because I really need to get the test done.' I said, 'What happened?' And they gave me a link, but the link didn't work, she said that it crashed,' said Rosa Delanuez. 'It's been more than nine hours waiting for them to send me a text message.

A broken system for many who simply want to get the test and results before Christmas (the latter of which may be a pipe dream at this point). Others waited in the physical line, just to be given a place in a virtual line. 'They told me they were closed, and I have to come tomorrow about 6:30, 6 in the morning, and make the line in order to be seen,' said Raymond Polanco. The CityMD location in Kingsbridge was not one of the shuttered locations, but did turn some people away who were looking for COVID tests on Wednesday. The news of more city-run testing sites came as CityMD, the privately run chain of urgent care clinics, said it was temporarily closing 13 city locations “to preserve our ability to staff our sites.” CityMD has seen testing lines wrapping around city blocks and wait times of several hours, as they have become overwhelmed with testing requests. Aditi Nerurkar the question on everyone’s minds: Should I be canceling my Christmas and New Year’s Eve plans?

LX News Now host Eric Alvarez asks Harvard Medical School’s Dr. At least 89,000 people in the city tested positive in the seven-day period that ended Tuesday - roughly one out of every 100 residents of the city.Īs COVID-19 cases surge fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant, families around the country are reconsidering their plans for the holiday. New York City has seen the average number of people testing positive each day spike more than 220 percent in a week. Some 17,200 people tested positive in the city Tuesday, according to the state's data, setting another new one-day record since testing became widely available. “The preference is to keep it on, it’s an important event for the city,” de Blasio told MSNBC Wednesday, adding that revelers would have to show vaccination proof and that officials were weighing other precautions. Times Square New Year's Eve - on for now?Īs cases in New York City surge to what Mayor Bill de Blasio called 'staggering' numbers, the question now is whether the city can go ahead with a mass celebration of New Year's Eve in Times Square.ĭe Blasio said no decision had been made on banning people from the annual ball drop celebration, even as Fox said it was canceling its live broadcast because of concerns about the omicron variant. Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox.

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