Our experience attempting to get tested for CoV19 today.
My DH's employer has a testing clinic set up for employees and their families. Call your employer, health insurance provider, your local hospital or your County Health Dept to find a location where you can get tested if you are sick.
First we called and the nurse asked about travel history, who we had come into contact with, our symptoms, etc. They gave us an appointment time and told us where to park, to stay in our vehicle and to call when we arrived. When we got there for our appointment there was a nurse in PPE talking to another patient in his car. Parking was limited (only 4 spaces). At first we parked with one parking space separating us from the other car (the farthest away we could get). The nurse waved at us without approaching, then went inside and called us on the phone. She asked us to move our vehicle to separate more from the other car. We had to park where there technically wasn't a legal parking space but we complied.
Next we waited and waited and waited. We watched the nurse make 3 trips to the other car and then the other car left. It took about 30 minutes for the person before us to be assessed and leave and then we waited another 30 minutes after that. My DH was frustrated about an hour after our appointment time and he almost went inside. But I convinced him to call instead and make sure they had not forgotten us, since we had moved our car away from the designated parking spaces like we were told to do. He called. They had not forgotten us. The nurse came out minutes later and apologized for the wait but she explained this was the first day they have done this and they are being extra careful. They have to change their PPE and get new gloves, new mask, new protective smock between each patient and between each sample collected, and they have to clean and disinfect everything thoroughly.
The nurse started by taking my temperature and my heart rate with a finger pulse reader. She asked me my symptoms. Then she explained they were first going to test for influenza. That test takes 10 minutes and if it is negative then they would test for other things. The test was a very painful nasal swab. It hurt so bad tears ran down my checks involuntarily. The nurse was very sweet and apologetic. She told me that unfortunately if the flu test was negative the next one would also be a nasal swab. She went back in to run my test and change her PPE. Next she came out and did the same flu test for DH. DH's symptoms are still worse than mine today. He couldn't stop coughing and he nearly threw up when the nurse swabbed his nose (did I mention it's painful? My nose still hurts from the swab).
Both our Flu tests came back negative. The nurse called my DH on the phone and asked him a bunch more questions about his symptoms and medical history. The nurse came back out and said that they were only going to test DH for other upper respiratory illnesses because he has worse symptoms than me and is higher risk of having it already. They will send the test away to a lab to be tested for a panel of several upper respiratory illnesses and ONLY if those all come back negative, then they will also test for CoV19. She said that if he tests positive for CoV19 they will assume I have it too and I don't need to get tested. DH has to stay home and self isolate for 14 days or until they medically clear him. If DH's test comes back with an upper respiratory illness other than C0V19 then his quarantine is lifted. If he tests positive for CoV19 then I have to stay home too. We also have to keep track of any and all visitors to our house for the 14 days. They gave us a sign-in form for tracking visitors.
At the time I was happy to not have another painful swab done but my poor DH had to have another one for the upper respiratory panel. Then I thought about the implications of this whole thing. What if we have an upper respiratory bug and CoV19 at the same time? What if our flu tests had been positive but we also have CoV19? We wouldn't have even been given the option of a 2nd test. What if DH and I have different illnesses? None of this procedure makes any sense in the context of the seriousness of this illness. Of course it looks like the numbers are low if they refuse to test someone without checking other things first! They didn't tells us and we didn't ask, but I'm sure this is due to a shortage of tests. They are probably rationing tests and it's very difficult to get tested unless you have had direct contact with a CoV19 positive person or unless everything else is ruled out. I don't know how long the additional tests will take either. We forgot to ask. Hopefully they will come back this week.
