A physician within the Hamptons is asking as a lot as $500 for a single COVID check — and well-heeled hypochondriacs are shelling out the exorbitant sum, sources informed On The Cash.
Dr. Seth Gordon, a pediatrician by coaching, is pleased to check adults and youngsters alike below a fee schedule that costs $500 for a PCR check and north of $400 for a speedy COVID check, in keeping with sufferers who’ve seen him.
Dr. Gordon, who lists his workplaces in Manhattan however who sources say has these days been borrowing different docs’ workplaces as he shuttles between tony enclaves reminiscent of Wainscott and East Hampton to satisfy demand, didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark this week.
Nonetheless, Dr. Gordon has been lining up wealthy and well-known shoppers together with Scarlett Johansson, who took her children in to get one of many coveted assessments, in keeping with sources.
Reps for Johansson additionally didn’t reply to requests for remark.
“It’s the Hamptons … what do you anticipate?” one native informed On The Cash. “Persons are schmucky sufficient to pay something.”
That stated, locals gripe that getting maintain of a check anyplace within the East Finish with out paying by means of the nostril is sort of unattainable. At White’s Apothecary in East Hampton, 300 dwelling assessments bought out in lower than an hour. Even making an appointment at a testing middle doesn’t assure you’ll get a check, one other particular person informed On The Cash.
“I had an appointment at a drive-through testing middle at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Parrish Memorial Corridor — however there have been nonetheless over 250 automobiles in entrance of me,” one native lamented. “Individuals had been ready as much as 8, 10, 12 hours.”
Apparently, Dr. Gordon didn’t construct his area of interest within the Hamptons in a single day. In August 2020, the New York Instances reported that he was the go-to COVID tester for the employees on the standard Surf Lodge resort and bar in Montauk.
“He has his personal Sofia 2 machine by Quidel so he can do the check” — an antigen check — “and get the outcomes in a short time, in quarter-hour,” stated Jayma Cardoso, one of many resort’s house owners.
Dr. Gordon didn’t remark for that story, both.
Dr. Gordon’s present charges make clinics in Manhattan sound like a discount, sources sniffed. NY Ahead, which permits sufferers to schedule forward as a substitute of ready in line, costs $39 for a speedy check or $85 for a PCR check.
On the comparatively posh Bloom Labs, a speedy check can value $75 and a PCR check can value $149 — and even $299 to get outcomes inside a couple of hours. At home-services reminiscent of these offered by Sameday Well being had been just lately charging $225 for a speedy check and $275 for a PCR check.
