The Plague Diaries: COVID-19 Tests and Unexpected Cats, 1 of 2
Last Sunday while Darwin was up from Albion for the weekend, he started getting sick. Slight nausea progressed to greater nausea. Muscle aches and malaise followed, then fever. Uh oh. We had just attended the viewing for my uncle Indul, and not everyone there practiced good social distancing.
On Monday, Darwin was still feeling awful, so we decided it would be a good idea to get tested for COVID-19. This touched off a search. I called my doctor's office. Turned out they only did testing after a telemedicine consultation, and would be happy to make an appointment for some time late in the week. Darwin's doctor didn't offer testing at all. The web site of a nearby urgent care clinic said it offered no-reason, no-referral testing, so we drove down there, only find a sign on the door that said they were out of testing kits and expected more in a few days. More web searching told us a medical center maybe 15 minutes away had no-referral, no-reason testing, so we drove on down.
When we arrived, we found a long line of cars snaking around the building and across the parking lot. (The testing at this site was drive-up.) I joined the line while Darwin looked for another test site, but in the end we figured lines would be just as long anywhere else, so we stayed put.
The line moved reasonably fast, though, and it took maybe twenty minutes to get to the front. A PPE-clad nurse took our information from a distance, then waved us to a parking spot. She said we'd get a phone call in a few minutes when it was our turn. In due time, the call came, and I drove up to the tent they'd set up. Another PPE-clad nurse slid a long swab up my nose. It didn't hurt. Quite. Much. But "wildly uncomfortable" would describe the process accurately. Darwin underwent the same process. They told us to check the center's web site after 48 hours to see if our results were in. Total time, including driving: 90 minutes.
The following evening, on a hunch, I checked the web site. You give the site your vital info, and they send an email with a code. You enter the code and the site gives you your results. A lot of times, test results come in faster than they tell you, so I checked early. The results were indeed in.
Negative for both us. No COVID-19.
Whew.
The verdict for Darwin? Probably mild food poisoning.
But this touched off another event: moving the cats.
Darwin was sick here in Waterford. The cats were in Albion. He was supposed to be back on Monday, but was too sick for it, and the cats would be running low on food.
I settled on a day trip to Albion.
More . . .
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On Monday, Darwin was still feeling awful, so we decided it would be a good idea to get tested for COVID-19. This touched off a search. I called my doctor's office. Turned out they only did testing after a telemedicine consultation, and would be happy to make an appointment for some time late in the week. Darwin's doctor didn't offer testing at all. The web site of a nearby urgent care clinic said it offered no-reason, no-referral testing, so we drove down there, only find a sign on the door that said they were out of testing kits and expected more in a few days. More web searching told us a medical center maybe 15 minutes away had no-referral, no-reason testing, so we drove on down.
When we arrived, we found a long line of cars snaking around the building and across the parking lot. (The testing at this site was drive-up.) I joined the line while Darwin looked for another test site, but in the end we figured lines would be just as long anywhere else, so we stayed put.
The line moved reasonably fast, though, and it took maybe twenty minutes to get to the front. A PPE-clad nurse took our information from a distance, then waved us to a parking spot. She said we'd get a phone call in a few minutes when it was our turn. In due time, the call came, and I drove up to the tent they'd set up. Another PPE-clad nurse slid a long swab up my nose. It didn't hurt. Quite. Much. But "wildly uncomfortable" would describe the process accurately. Darwin underwent the same process. They told us to check the center's web site after 48 hours to see if our results were in. Total time, including driving: 90 minutes.
The following evening, on a hunch, I checked the web site. You give the site your vital info, and they send an email with a code. You enter the code and the site gives you your results. A lot of times, test results come in faster than they tell you, so I checked early. The results were indeed in.
Negative for both us. No COVID-19.
Whew.
The verdict for Darwin? Probably mild food poisoning.
But this touched off another event: moving the cats.
Darwin was sick here in Waterford. The cats were in Albion. He was supposed to be back on Monday, but was too sick for it, and the cats would be running low on food.
I settled on a day trip to Albion.
More . . .
comments
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