Tech

Don’t Hire Gig Workers to Wait In Line for Your COVID-19 Test

Wealthy people hiring gig workers so they can flout pandemic guidelines isn't a solution, it's an example of how things got so bad to begin with.
Over the weekend, a TikTok video went viral advertising a tip to bypass waiting in long lines for COVID-19 testing: hiring a gig worker to wait for you.  A now-deleted TikTok video from user @thetipguyNYC explains that viewers looking to hire someone else
China News Service / Contributor

Over the weekend, a TikTok video went viral advertising a tip to bypass waiting in long lines for COVID-19 testing: hiring a gig worker to wait for you.

A now-deleted TikTok video from user @thetipguyNYC explains that viewers looking to hire someone else to wait for hours among possibly-infected people should use TaskRabbit, a platform for hiring people to do just about anything you don’t want to.  The video advises viewers to "filter by cheapest available" and to instruct the worker to give them a call when they’re at the front of the line. 

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In a statement, TaskRabbit said it is aware of the practice of hiring workers to wait in line for COVID-19 tests, and that it’s fine with it. 

"The Wait in Line category has historically been popular during the holidays," a TaskRabbit spokesperson told Motherboard. "This year, there are some Taskers choosing to wait in line for clients seeking COVID-19 tests." They also added that “because details of all tasks are shared by clients in advance, Taskers know the types of lines in which they will be waiting, and the decision about whether to accept the task lies with the Tasker.”

One person who did this told Time Out that they couldn't "fathom how people can disagree—it's giving people jobs who may have lost theirs during this pandemic, so if they do it and get paid for it, that's their decision." They blamed access to testing and "the lack of organization" for the lines, adding that "people should absolutely be taking the opportunity to get paid for it."

All of that conflicts with what's actually going on, however. Some of the overcapacity is from a lack of adequately distributed resources, but another part is thanks to the hordes of people who are ignoring CDC guidelines and planning to travel for Thanksgiving

The pandemic has already led to an increase in demand for gig work (for example, food delivery) while exacerbating the divide between those who deliver and those who make the orders from behind phone screens at home. People need money in the middle of a massive employment crisis during a plague, but it doesn’t justify the exploitative work that has popped up in the gap in lieu of a competent and compassionate societal response.

Masses of out-of-work people standing in line for a COVID-19 test on behalf of wealthy people ignoring guidance that could end the pandemic isn’t any kind of solution, it’s a perfect example of why things got this bad to begin with.