It can take days or weeks to get results for standard covid-19 tests in New York City. Wealthier people are turning to concierge services and small laboratories to get results in as little as 24 hours, according to a report in The New York Times.
As major laboratories struggle to meet surging demand for coronavirus tests, wealthier people and others in privileged professions are avoiding long waits for results — anywhere from four days to more than two weeks in New York City — by skipping the lines.
Some are signing up for concierge medical practices that charge several thousand dollars a year for membership and provide quick turnaround testing. Others have turned to smaller laboratories or doctors’ offices that have their own equipment and can give results in a few hours or less.
“So far, we have tested 12 billionaires,” said Dr. Andrew Brooks, chief executive of Infinity BiologiX, a New Jersey-based company that developed a saliva test used by professional athletes, universities and financial institutions. “This concern is universal.”
Executives at smaller labs in the New York region described a sharp increase in calls from those looking for faster results — not just doctors with wealthy patients but also businesses that need swift, reliable testing. Movie production companies, banks and even trucking companies have turned to small labs.
Horace Mann, a Bronx private school where tuition runs more than $50,000 a year, hired a screening company, Sterling, to offer on-demand saliva tests for staff, students and parents.
Some physician’s offices are offering results in less than 24 hours for people who can pay $150 or $200 out of pocket for a test.
Read more from The New York Times.
