The person at the front of a particularly long CityMD line on Atlantic Avenue near Nevins Street in Boerum Hill Friday afternoon told Gothamist it had taken him four hours to reach the door.

Just before 4 p.m., a CityMD worker came out to inform those just joining the back of that line that there was still a three-and-a-half to four hour wait with a chance they wouldn’t get in for a test that day.

She said there were 50 people waiting by the time the site opened Friday morning.

The line started at 6 am with 2 people.

In response to a query from Gothamist over whether CityMD was taking any measures to address heightened demand, a spokesperson said on Friday that demand for COVID-19 testing "has never been higher.".

Most people on line at the Boerum Hill location Friday said they were prepared for a long wait because they lived in the area and had passed by the line before.

In New York City, testing has increased by about 60% since September (the data can lag by 3-4 days).

Clancy says CityMD, which is privately run, should be working with the city to address the long lines, or at least improve the experience for people trying to get tested.

One person reported a five-hour long wait for a free test at Bellevue hospital in Manhattan Thursday.

On Friday, NYC Health + Hospitals tweeted at 12:47 p.m.

that the Bellevue testing center would not be letting anyone else on line that day.

“Those already in line will be seen,” the public health system said.

A spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals did not respond to a request for comment Friday on what the city is doing to address the increasingly long wait times for COVID-19 tests at some its sites.

Margaret Bortner said the hour-and-a-half-long wait at the city-run testing site at the Red Hook Recreation Center Friday evening seemed reasonable compared to the three-hour wait she saw at a CityMD earlier that day.

“We decided we would take the chance to take the trip, even though people are saying not to travel,” she said.

For the full range of testing sites, New York City refers users to a search website run by the health data firm Castlight

Public school families and staff are urged to visit one of 22 priority testing sites run by the city’s Health and Hospitals system

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