In September 2022, Elyse Greenblatt of Queens returned home from a trip to Rwanda with a rather unwelcome-back gift: persistent congestion.
She felt a pain in her sinuses and sought a quick resolution.
Covid-19 couldn’t be ruled out, so rather than risk passing on an unknown infection to others in a waiting room, the New Yorker booked a telehealth visit through her usual health system, Mount Sinai — a perennial on best-hospitals lists.
That proved an expensive decision. She remembers the visit as taking barely any time.