{"id":190734,"date":"2021-02-28T07:32:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T04:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-fans-dropping-hundreds-on-last-minute-covid-tests-before-games\/"},"modified":"2021-02-28T07:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T04:32:44","slug":"knicks-fans-dropping-hundreds-on-last-minute-covid-tests-before-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-fans-dropping-hundreds-on-last-minute-covid-tests-before-games\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks fans dropping hundreds on last-minute COVID tests before games"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks fans dropping hundreds on last-minute COVID tests before game<\/a>s<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Knicks fans desperate to get back to Madison Square Garden are ponying up $250 for last-minute COVID tests before tip off, in order to meet new state testing rules for large venues.<\/p>\n

Under the regulations that went into effect Feb. 23, venues with more than 10,000 people can operate at 10 percent capacity \u2014 as long as every guest has passed a COVID test within 72 hours of tipoff.<\/p>\n

But not just any old COVID test will do. The state requires fans to get the more sensitive and accurate PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests. Unlike a rapid test, which can give a result in a few minutes, PCR test results can take hours or days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been trapp<\/a>ed in a house for a year and a half, so I\u2019ll be happy to spend whatever right now,\u201d said Anthony Jones, 33 of Queens, after he shelled out the $250 to get the needed PCR test before the Knicks were scheduled to take on the Pacers Saturday night. <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s contest marked the third Knicks matchup with fans in attendance at The Garden under the new rules.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Stewart Hotel, where MSG is offering $250 rapid COVID tests before games.<\/figcaption>
Daniel William McKnight<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The testing requirements leave few reliable options for fans, because most providers can only guarantee the specialized \u201cPCR\u201d test results within three to five days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York is the only state requiring this level of testing for large venues, a Madison Square Garden spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Enter Rapid Test NYC. The company \u2014 which has been making headlines throughout the pandemic for its pricey, COVID-related concierge services catering to rich New Yorkers \u2014 has set up a makeshift clinic inside a Stewart Hotel conference room, across 8th Avenue from MSG, where it\u2019s administering PCR tests with a promised 30-minute turnaround time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a fan didn\u2019t get tested, they\u2019re not going to let them in the game, and that sucks,\u201d said Mark Golberg, who is running the Stewart Hotel Rapid Test NYC center and two other brick-and-mortar locations in Nolita and on East 72nd Street.<\/p>\n

He said fans have walked into the Stewart Hotel after presenting a non-PCR rapid-test to MSG ticket-takers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they have to come to us,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cOr they actually took a test at City MD or what have you and the results aren\u2019t ready in time. We\u2019re the last resort.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened to a father-son duo from Scarsdale who said they took a PCR test at another clinic Thursday, but didn\u2019t get their results back in time for Saturday\u2019s game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of stuck having to do this test. I don\u2019t know if we have a choice,\u201d lamented the dad, who declined to provide his name. \u201cWe\u2019re going to two games here \u2014 tonight and the hockey game tomorrow \u2014 and we haven\u2019t gotten our tests back yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapid Test NYC is one of three testing sites where MSG is recommending patrons go to be tested. Northwell Health\u2019s GoHealth Urgent Care centers, which recommend being tested three days prior to the game, and Vault Health, which will send fans a rapid-test kit prior to game day, are also listed as recommended providers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cTicket holders can choose any healthcare provider to meet New York State\u2019s testing requirements. We wanted to help our fans by providing information on testing providers that offer different levels of convenience, which come at different price points. The three providers offer urgent care, at-home and day-of testing alternatives,\u201d a Madison Square Garden spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A second father-son pair, who identified themselves as the Boothe family from Philadelphia, said they were completely caught off-guard by the requirements and planned to sell their tickets, because they couldn\u2019t afford the $250 test price.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s $500 to go to the game. When you spend $500 on top of $200, that\u2019s almost $1,000 just to go into this building right here,\u201d the disappointed dad said after dropping by Stewart Hotel. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like extortion. We\u2019re upset, but what could we do? I\u2019m not spending $500 to go to a game that\u2019s $200 for two tickets.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks fans dropping hundreds on last-minute COVID tests before games” Knicks fans desperate to get back to Madison Square Garden are ponying up $250 for last-minute COVID tests before tip off, in order to meet new state testing rules for large venues. Under the regulations that went into effect Feb. 23, venues with more than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Pacers_Knicks_Basketball.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[95559,1545,70344,87892,72932],"class_list":["post-190734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2-27-21","tag-coronavirus","tag-coronavirus-in-ny","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-new-york-knicks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}