Dec. 22, 2021 By Allie Griffin
CityMD, a popular chain of urgent care clinics, has temporarily closed 13 locations across the city — including three in Queens.
The chain, which has been a go-to spot for many to get both rapid and PCR tests for COVID-19 during the pandemic, has temporarily closed select locations in the greater New York area due to staffing concerns.
“To preserve our ability to staff our sites, we are temporarily closing certain locations effective… December 22,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “It is our hope that closing sites now will best allow us to avoid future closures as this surge continues.”
The three Queens locations that have temporarily closed are CityMD Corona, CityMD Ditmars in Astoria and CityMD Woodhaven. The company suggests that residents who live in these neighborhoods visit clinics nearby such as in Jackson Heights, Long Island City and Ozone Park.
The company didn’t say when it would reopen the clinics.
Three CityMD locations in the Bronx, three in Brooklyn and four in Manhattan have also been closed.
Most of CityMD’s 150 centers in New York and New Jersey are running at full capacity, as new cases surge and more people are getting tested ahead of holiday travel and gatherings.
New Yorkers have been waiting in long lines to get tested and elected officials have called on the city to open more city-run test sites in Queens and other parts of the city.
More than 10,000 New York City residents are testing positive for COVID-19 per day, based on a seven-day average, according to city data. Health experts have attributed the spike to the new, highly contagious Omicron variant.