CityMD shutters 20 sites in city amid staffing problems

CityMD temporarily closed 20 of its 85 New York City locations Wednesday because of staffing issues — as demand for COVID-19 tests continued to surge.

The network of urgent care clinics, which offers rapid antigen and PCR COVID-19 tests at all of its locations, told patients by email Wednesday morning that it is temporarily shuttering select locations in order to “preserve our ability to staff our sites.”

“Continuing to provide ... service to the community is a top priority; however, our physicians and teammates are also a priority,” the email continued. “It is our hope that closing sites now will best allow us to avoid future closures as this surge continues.”

A list of site closures on the CityMD website showed four spots temporarily shuttered in the Bronx, five in Brooklyn, six in Manhattan, and five in Queens. A total of 20 of the 85 sites across the city closed Wednesday, and the website does not indicate when they would reopen.

Workplaces across the country have struggled with staffing shortages as the surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the more contagious omicron variant keeps employees quarantined at home.

But the staffing shortages at CityMD come at a particularly inconvenient time for New Yorkers still scrambling to find COVID-19 tests. The statewide total of COVID-19 cases exceeded 50,000 on Christmas Day.

CityMD listed alternative locations for people relying on the closed sites and the company said it hopes “any patients affected by temporary closings should still have easy and convenient access to a CityMD location.”