I've heard and read that COVID19 testing is severely limited.

But here's what we experienced here in Utah County, during the last two weeks.

In early March, I came to stay for a few weeks with my son & his family, to help with his transition to a new job, coupled with the resignation of their nanny. I.e., I became the "nanny."

During this time, my son's health had become plagued with a high fever, an extremely sore throat, and excessive fatigue. We suspected that he could have contracted COVID19 through contacts at his new job, in spite of everyone being very, very careful. We adopted the attitude that we were all COVID19-positive. But my son was the only one in the household with any COVID19-like symptoms.

So we drove him to the local ER, where they said they would test him, but not until that following Monday. His wife and I weren't having it! Her mom is a nurse at another nearby hospital, and she suggested we try there, just as a walk-in.

So he "walked in" to her hospital, and they agreed to test him right then and there. This was Friday, April 3rd.

COVID19 testing IS actually readily available, at least at that particular hospital ER, in Utah County.

We were all super-relieved when the test results came back NEGATIVE on Monday (April 6). I could never have imagined that I would actually be HAPPY to know that my son had strep!

But the point here is..... we suspected COVID19, and got a test almost right away.

PapaKen you are missing the point. Mormons view the COVID-19 more as a test of faith rather than a test of a virus. For it is by faith that ye are healed after all the fasting you can do.

This probably explains why is so available in Utah County.

LOL

Glad to hear you and your son's family are virus free.

Wow. Who'd have thought that getting a positive test result for strep throat was a "Good Thing??"

for people like me with compromised renal function, it is NOT a Good Thing.

This is one of the biggest problems with testing - it is all dependent on where you are. In my area you have to be sever symptoms and high risk and you can NOT go into an ER. You have to have a referral by your Primary to even get in the door with CV symptoms.

I think it just depends as I've heard stories of many people who when they first go in, they diagnose them as pneumonia or flu and tell them to come back if they don't start getting better. They give them antibiotics for pneumonia. My neighbor's 78-year-old father had this happen to him in the Ogden area.

They sent him home with antibiotics. He got worse, so he went to the ER. He tested positive and they sent him home. He actually is doing better, but still sick. It has been almost 3 weeks.

They finally have a drive-through here for testing, but you have to have a reason like foreign travel or high fever, etc.

Oh, my SIL's niece was even admitted to the hospital with pneumonia they said and they wouldn't test her.

There is no doubt that the official statistics understate the number killed by COVID. There are older people who die at home of unspecified causes and those who are denied treatment for other ills and then die as a result.

The final numbers for both categories will be substantially higher than they are now.

number of cardiac deaths for heart attacks and for cardiac arrest have sky rocketed and they are sure these are from COVID-19.

They said that most of them don't want to go to the hospital.

My boyfriend said he'd rather die at home and I agree. I assume that is what is happening.

I found a place that does free testing but only if you are 65 and over.

Colorado

Each winter, I get a bad case of allergies that make my eyes itch, my throat slightly sore, and causes a lot of sinus draining and sneezing. My temperature doesn't go above 99.5. This year it started in early December and hasn't let up since.

I was in Home Depot a few days ago when overtaken by a sneeze. I caughed in to the inside of my elbow. Everyone around me stepped way back from six feet to more like ten feet or more and looked at me like I was a leper. Half of them were wearing face masks. I thought of joking about it by saying something like "this covid is a real bitch". But then I realized that these people probably wouldn't have laughed. The irony is that none of us was there buying anything that was essential to our survival. Perhaps shame on all of us for even being there. This pandemic doesn't seem to be distributing the pain equally to everyone. If things are really that bad, why is Home Depot open and full of middle-aged and elderly shoppers? None of the people around me looked like construction workers. Most of them were upper-middle class, well dressed middle-aged people with carts that contained items like small carpets, table lamps, and house plants. It was later in the day and there were no younger guys hauling lumber or other building supplies out out of the store like you see in the early mornings. It is safe to say that no one there was buying anything that is essential to survival. Meanwhile others sit at home out of work, unable to do discretionary shopping because they need every penny they have to survive. The pandemic is real. But the transfer of wealth for this purpose makes me uncomfortable. Whether or not I choose to confine myself to my home has no affect on what others will choose to do. The economy has not shut down to all except for essential services. Someone has decided that beauty salons and restaurants can be forced out of business but that Home Depot and Walmart shouldn't be forced to accept losses or be put out of business. Why not let the grocery section of Walmart stay open but block off access and turn out the lights in the rest of the store? When you go in to those other parts of the store, you see people browsing the aisles like they always have. I don't have a problem with them doing that. But we have a situation where government has imposed restrictions unequally when the actual risks exist (more or less) equally everywhere.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2020 07:39AM by azsteve.

I know that Maryland would like to do more testing, but has a shortage of test kits. We have drive-through testing at several different places around the state. You have to have a referral from your medical provider to get an appointment.