Midtown is a ghost town?



 We have been open since June 8th and our neighborhood was pretty deserted. It looked like Sunday at 8 Am.   Slowly it has become progressively busier and now when I leave work at 5- 6 PM each day, there are now definitely more people walking around. There are more people on the subway and I can't always find an empty seat.

While here are a lot of empty offices in our neighborhood (4oth st between Madison and Park ave), clearly the worst panic has subsided. While infectivity rate in NYC is hovering around 1%, it is  much lower among our returning patients, most of whom have been staying home and most are working remotely from home. 

 Prior to Covid, most of our working patients had jobs in midtown,  so our practice was convenient to get to. Now they have been sheltering in place where they reside and many drive their cars and park in a lot on 39th st. Most are happy to see us and share that they are pleased to be able to maintain a sense of normality while they receive overdue dental care. 

Truth be told we are even happier to see them. Even though we have done our best to create safe environment ( Airprurifiers, open windows, HOCL fogging, and super clean environment) there was no guarantee that our patients would return in sufficient numbers to make staying open a certainty.

So far we are doing OK,  treading water so to speak, since Our billings are about 2/3 of their pre pandemic levels. Thankfully this is enough for us to stay current and not dip into our credit lines. We have been able to keep our staffing levels close to what they were prior to March 2020 ( only one staff member has been furloughed and that was by mutual agreement) None of our staff has called in sick and no one has called up after a visit with the news that they have gotten a Covid diagnosis. 

Unfortunately there have been a lot of retail closures in our neighborhood. My favorite bakery had maintained two storefronts on 40th, Maison Kaiser and their premises are still empty. We have had to change where we purchase our lunches, but there are still a number of good places  a short walk from our office. Benjamin's , a steak house located across the street from our office, has set up a number of out door tables and our local street scape is actually quite pleasant.

If you are contemplating coming in to visit our office, rest assured that almost all our returning patients have been pleased that they have come in for a dental visit. If you are fortunate enough to have dental insurance, we are starting the fourth quarter of the year and it is likely that you will soon loose the opportunity to fully utilize your 2020 dental benefits. Why not make an appointment now, while there is still time to complete any needed dental treatment  before the new 2021 benefit period begins? 

Our website lspindeldds.com, features a button that will allow booking online appointments, so why wait. We are still open Monday -Thursday and will be happy to see you!



from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2020/09/midtown-is-ghost-town.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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