The first option is to ask your staff to get tested on their own and provide you with the results. There are several ways to accomplish this. You can instruct your wait staff for hire to visit one of the nine COVID Express sites operating in New York City where the tests are offered free of charge, which is beneficial to both your staff and your business. Results are available within 24 hours or less and can be accessed online. But we still recommend asking your employees to schedule an appointment at least 3 days prior to the event date, whenever possible, so that you have adequate time to take care of finding a replacement in the unfortunate case of positive results. This method of testing requires an appointment and the online scheduler for the Express sites can be found here: COVID-19 Rapid Testing
If none of the Express site locations or times work, you can direct your staff to this page, where they can find a weekly updated list of mobile testing units visiting different locations throughout the five boroughs, as well as search for the nearby test sites by zip code.
Other rapid test providers include:
- Mount Sinai – same-day results;
- Kings County Hospital – same-day results;
- Bellevue – same-day results;
- Urgent Care – 48-hour results.
And those who prefer walk-in appointments can stop by any CityMD location, where the tests are also free but the result turnaround time is 3-5 days, so this will require some advanced planning.
An option to use an at-home self-collected kit, like the one from LabCorp, also exists but it isn’t available for individuals who aren’t experiencing any symptoms or considered an at-risk population. The Pixel test by LabCorp was the first one to be officially authorized by the FDA. Now there seem to be other tests available for sale, but we suggest thoroughly researching their credibility before purchasing. Also, unless the recipient is covered by insurance or eligible for reimbursement, the out-of-pocket costs of such tests are over $100 per unit, which doesn’t make it a viable option for repeated use.
The challenge with having your employees get tested on their own lies in completely delegating the responsibility to make an appointment, show up and turn in the results to you on time to them. But hopefully, you have vetted and time-tested personnel who understands the importance of this matter and will do it in good faith.
If you prefer to test your staff in a more organized manner, consider contracting a mobile testing provider, such as Medbar or World Back to Work. Once you book an appointment with them, they will arrive at your desired location, administer the tests and deliver online results to you and your employees. Specifics vary by provider, but offerings include setting up safe testing stations upon arrival, 1-2 day turnaround and free retesting for any inconclusive test results. However, a few things to consider are the costs, being able to provide the location and taking care of scheduling one or more time slots to accommodate all the staff members who need to get tested.
We hope that this information is helpful to our industry colleagues and that together we will continue to provide safe and reliable catering staffing NYC services to our event partners.
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