When the
Ravel Hotel in Long Island City reopened its rooftop Profundo pool lounge on June 25th, they promised that
a series of festive pool parties would be safe for guests, thanks to the hotel’s mandatory on-site rapid coronavirus testing. Seth Levine, a co-owner of the hotel,
told Gothamist he wanted to make it “a safe haven” to allow people who had been cooped up inside for months to enjoy a night out while maintaining social distancing. They were one of the first NYC venues, if not the first, to try to encourage people to go out again amidst the pandemic.
But instead of a safe haven, critics say the pool parties have begun to resemble the
infamous Memorial Day weekend videos of partiers crowded together at the Lake Of The Ozarks. Based on first person accounts of events at Profundo last weekend, as well as the videos below, there was a distinct lack of social distancing or mask-wearing happening in and around the pool. Instead of cautious mingling among small groups of friends, the crowded gatherings looked more like Vaccine Victory parties—sans the vaccine.
“I was not there, because I think it’s too dangerous, but I know people who were there, and I saw all the videos online, and there’s a lot of group chats, so everybody was posting videos,” said Kristina Alaniesse, who reposted the videos above of the scene at Profundo on July 4th. Alaniesse, who is active in the nightlife scene in NYC, said she was shocked at what she saw and heard from attendees, including an employee who asked to remain anonymous: “There were no masks. No social distancing whatsoever. People were dancing on tables and the protocol is to usually stay at your table with a mask.”
“All the staff were wearing masks. But not the clients—no one was wearing masks, no one was social distancing, 100%,” said D.L., 38, who was at Profundo until about 11:30 p.m. for the evening session on the 4th. He said that people were congregating and drinking together by the DJ booth: “That’s where the action was. Everyone was dancing there.”
“To be honest, for me personally, I basically went there to have some drinks and hang out with my friends who I haven’t seen in months,” he added. “So I didn’t mingle with anybody. We were far away from everyone else, I legitimately spoke to maybe two people.”
Several partiers Gothamist spoke to said they had fun at the events, and that things were far more under control during the day session. “I didn’t see masks being worn, but I feel like everyone stayed within their own parties, unless they were walking around or going to the pool or restroom,” said 31-year-old makeup artist Mariela Sciandra, who was there until the day session ended in the late afternoon. “But besides that, we were staying within our own groups of eight. I didn’t really experience mingling between other parties. There were a few people dancing in front of DJ booth, but it wasn’t crowded, just a few people.”
Ashley Torres, a 25-year-old nanny who was also there for the day session, said she saw employees cleaning, spraying and wiping things down as the day progressed. She said people took their masks off often because of how hot it was outside, but overall she felt safe during the day session and thinks things were not as bad as they appeared in the videos: “There are tables next to where dance floor is, it could be misconstrued as a large gathering of groups. Each table is eight people, it might look congested, but in person it’s not.”
According
to their website, all day beds and tables were installed six feet apart; staff and guests are expected to be diligent about remaining six feet apart in common areas like the restrooms and bar area, and all guests are required to wear a mask when entering and moving throughout the space. Their capacity has been reduced to 50%, though that still means they can still fit around 300 people at a time, despite the fact the state doesn’t allow gatherings of over 25 people in Phase 3 (these videos were taken while the city was still in Phase 2).
Establishments in NYC are only allowed to do socially distant outdoor dining right now, which doesn’t appear to be happening in the videos. An official with the mayor’s office confirmed that the city is currently following up with the owners “to make sure they’re compliant when they reopen this weekend.”
Complaints have also been made to the city’s Office of Nightlife: “We’re aware of the situation and are actively in contact with the venue and the patrons who’ve shared their concerns,” said the Senior Executive Director of the Office of Nightlife, Ariel Palitz. “As a non-enforcement office, our role is to ensure operators and patrons are getting the information they need so that venues are following guidelines, and everyone is socializing responsibly. That’s what we’re doing here.”
In response to questions about the lack of masks and social distancing, a spokesperson for Ravel said that “they’ve immediately implemented new protocols with increased security measures and social distancing practices. Any patrons who defy these policies will be given a warning, and on the second offense will be asked to leave the premises. Guests need to respect the state’s mandates, as well as Ravel’s.”
While health experts have said that there’s no evidence the virus can be spread in bodies of water including lakes, oceans and pools, that doesn’t mean pool parties are safe: “We know [coronavirus] is very effectively transmitted through aerosol droplets,” Robert Quigley, the regional medical director for travel risk mitigation company International SOS, who holds a PhD in immunology,
told the Washington Post. “Just because you’re in the water doesn’t give you authorization to violate the six-foot rule.” Another expert added that it is intrinsic that facilities make sure “you’re not going to have the large congregations of people like you might have in prior years.”
All patrons must submit proof of insurance and agree to be tested there before they can enter the premises (it costs $50 without insurance, $35 with insurance), and the process is, at the very least, quite layered and complicated. People are taken to multiple rooms to get their temperature taken, then get a mandatory nasal swab test or finger prick test for active COVID-19 (they can also get an optional antibody test). Then they have to wait for the results. If anyone from your group tests positive, the entire group isn’t allowed in. Overall, it took some people as much as an hour and a half before they got their results and were allowed to enter.
The tests are administered by their medical partner Vestibular Diagnostics of Rochelle Park, New Jersey. Vestibular Diagnostics does not have
a functioning website; they also were criticized in May after being contracted to perform testing in Paterson, New Jersey.
Local officials complained to the Paterson Times that the company overcharged lab fees “by 75 percent higher than what is set by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).”
Levine previously told Gothamist that the Abbott ID NOW tests were very reliable, “99.5 percent accurate”—but Abbott themselves have said it is about 95% accurate in terms of identifying positive cases, and some experts say the accuracy rate is far, far lower than that.
“There’s no way I would be comfortable missing 2 out of 10 patients,” Susan Whittier, director of clinical microbiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center,
told KHN. There have been
at least three other preliminary reports from researchers out of Stanford University, Loyola University and the Cleveland Clinic that have also flagged inaccuracy problems with the tests. The FDA is requiring Abbott to conduct follow-up studies in several different patient groups as a result.
Some experts
have argued that the FDA rushed these rapid tests to the market under pressure from the White House, and it will take months before we really know how reliable they are. (Donald Trump enthusiastically touted the test back in May, calling them a “game changer.”) In a statement, Abbott vice president Hackett has admitted that “our normal process takes years” to properly test these technologies.
Dr. Colin West of the Mayo Clinic
told the AP that both doctors and patients have put too much faith into these new tests popping up that have not been thoroughly vetted, and said that there are people with COVID-19 who are likely receiving false negative results. “The negative test does not mean that I’m off the hook,” West said. “We just need to maintain that level of vigilance until we have a better sense of how good these tests really can be.”
All of this casts significant doubts not only on the accuracy of the tests overall, but also about the ethics of using them outside of hospital or medical facilities at this time. Despite all the questions about the effectiveness and reliability of rapid testing, Ravel has made it the cornerstone of their publicity campaign—and it’s the number one thing attendees cited to Gothamist as to why they attended the parties and why they felt safe there.
“I was very curious, because I was very surprised at how fast they got the results,” said D.L., who had coronavirus a few months ago (he noted that it took him days to get his results). “Is it accurate? I don’t think so. But I saw some people get kicked out while I was in the waiting area.”
“I’m happy to have been in a environment where everyone with us tested negative, I felt safe being in that environment,” said Sciandra.
“I would go back again, absolutely, as long as they’re offering testing,” added Torres.
In one Instagram photo, in which you can see at least 10 people not wearing masks,
the person wrote, “FYI: we had to be tested for covid on-site to go into this party so that’s why we aren’t wearing masks – thank you Profundo NYC for keeping us all safe and happy!”
“Like anyone else in nightlife community, I want to see people get their jobs back, I want to see nightlife come back, but there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it,” said Susana Pereyra, 26, who is currently furloughed from her job within the hospitality business. “I’m seeing lots of people taking time to workshop precautions. So when I see something like Profundo, that is misleading people just so they can circumvent the social distancing rules to throw a Vegas-style pool party, it’s ruining it for everyone else who is trying to give it their best shot to go about this the right way. If we get put on second shutdown, that’s going to affect all the other bars and nightlife places trying to make honest efforts to be social and safe.”
Pereyra is particularly worried that there are people who have been misled by them “preaching the benefits of rapid testing. They’re calling it the gold standard, but obviously it is not the gold standard. Otherwise every single business worldwide would be doing it.”
Regarding the testing, a spokesperson for Ravel told Gothamist that their team “was provided these numbers by doctors who have verified these numbers with the testing machines, as well as with the FDA.” They claimed that they were informed that “negative results have a high percentage of accuracy,” which is not necessarily what the various preliminary studies found.
In a phone interview, Ravel co-owner Levine stressed that Ravel has “never guaranteed that what we’re doing is a 100% effective thing.” He said they have received “hundreds, if not thousands” of emails from other hospitality and catering companies “congratulating us on our forward thinking…who are begging us for our services of what we did. Las Vegas, Miami, LA, multiple giant organizations who have come to us and said, ‘Wow, what you’re doing is helping our industry not fail.'”
Levine also criticized what he said was Gothamist’s
previous “negative” story about Profundo. “We found a safer way to do business, so if you’re going to call me with negative questions, call me with positive questions, because we’re not guaranteeing anything, we’re just adding one level more of safety than the next guy is doing,” he said. “Report that we’re the first in our country trying to be safer than the next guy.”
