Saturday, June 20, 2020

Day 96 - Testing

I decided to get a COVID-19 test so that I can be absolutely sure that I don't have the virus before heading to Connecticut in a week.  I have no symptoms and haven't been in direct contact with anyone, but asymptomatic cases seem to be problematic.  Why not be sure?

Arlington County was having a free drive-thru and walk up testing event, so I drove over to check it out.  I could just stay in my car (top up) and crack my window to let someone stab a swab up my nose and get results in a few days.  Easy.

I thought it might be busy and was up early, so I went 15 minutes before it even started.  I tried to pull behind a line of cars with their brake lights on, and a cop waved me away, telling me that it was already full.  I kept driving to survey the situation.  I passed dozens of cars lined up around the corner from the site. 

When I reached the site itself, I yelped at the sight of a long line of people stretching down the sidewalk.  The line was at least a hundred people long.  They looked as though they were camped out to go to a concert.  Most had masks, but they were definitely not six feet apart from each other.  From the safety of my car, I exclaimed.  No no no no no no.  Ewwwwwwwwww.  These people!  How could they stand to be so near each other knowing that each one of them had some suspicion that they were already infected with a deadly virus?  Gross.  Horrifying.

I decided to turn on the re-circulation of air in my car.  No need to share any oxygen with these people.

When I rolled up to the intersection where four police were standing around monitoring traffic, not a single one of them was wearing a mask.  Are these people reading the same news I am?

Trying to get a test felt like the riskiest thing I had done since March!

I went home and called my doctor.  I'll see about getting a test next week from her.





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