Experiencing a COVID test firsthand

Time has a new meaning these days

One of the most fascinating things about life in the era of the coronavirus is how much the sense of time has gotten warped. In some ways it feels like that past few months have flown by in an absolute blur. Yet at the same time, they also seem to have contained several years worth of activity, change, chaos, and anxiety. Quite simply, time feels both incredibly fast and slow all at the same time.

The month of September fit precisely into that same pattern. Our schools have now been in session for over a month. Fall sports are going, albeit with some schedule changes due to localized outbreaks. More and more businesses are making the transition back to a more normalized form of operation.

In the church we are continuing with socially distanced worship and restarted our face to face prayer group with precautions. The ability to be back together with the prayer team was by far the most rewarding experience of this month. For a while we tried to meet via Zoom, but the fact of the matter is that, for us at least, it was not nearly as rewarding as being together in person. Even though I know that the prayers have continued throughout the entire last six months, it is a blessing to be able to begin the work week surrounded by fellow Disciples lifting up the needs of our congregation and community.

Difficult decisions for everyone

Figuring out how to best balance the competing demands for safety and openness has been one of the greatest challenges of this pandemic for leaders around the world. Even as there are risks for people getting exposed to COVID-19 while out and about in the community, there are also consequences for sheltering in place. People in our congregation have had surgeries delayed, livelihoods have suffered, and overall emotional health has declined as people have been forced to deal with the consequences of extended isolation and anxiety.

There are no easy answers here. It is not a binary choice of completely closing down or pretending as if nothing is going on. Six months into the pandemic, I will admit there are things I wish that we had done differently at the beginning, but that is a conversation I will leave for another day. For right now, I will simply admit to being one of the millions of people in American society who are tired, frustrated, and ready for this virus to go away.

Exposed to the virus

Unfortunately, coronavirus does not care about our emotions or convenience. That reality was brought home to me this month when Lily and I were exposed when some of the students in her department went on an outing in another class. Although only a fraction of her students became ill, several of them were quarantined as a precaution.

Two days after her exposure was announced, I began to feel ill. At first I thought it was something I ate, but symptoms hung on and mirrored certain possible indicators of COVID19. Lily and I immediately isolated ourselves at home. Both of our careers require us to be around other people, so we did not want to take the chance of sharing infection with anyone.

After a couple of days, I started to call around for information on how to proceed. Essentially, our options were to quarantine for two weeks or to get a test to rule coronavirus in or out. Because I did not have direct exposure to someone through contract tracing, I was not eligible for a state sponsored test, so the quickest option was to pay for a test out of pocket. We made the calculated decision that paying for the test and waiting for the result was far less disruptive for both of us than two weeks of isolation.

Eventually, I found a local clinic that could perform the test. The actual process was very straight forward. I called ahead and was given an appointment time. I drove to the clinic and waited outside in the parking lot. A nurse in full protective gear came and swabbed my nose. Shortly afterwards a doctor came outside to evaluate me. He told me to continue to continue to isolate until the results were available in a few days time and sent me on my way.

Good test results, but lingering concerns

In the end, I tested negative and was diagnosed with a simple sinus infection. While I was waiting for the test results, a friend of mine filled the pulpit at church and I had the chance to participate in worship online. Lily never received the test because she did not demonstrate symptoms when I did. It was a relief to know that I was clear of the virus, but I was left quite frustrated by how difficult it was to get reliable and up to date information on where testing was available and what it took to qualify.

Fortunately, I had the flexibility to work from home and the insurance necessary to afford a test. I cannot even imagine how scary it must be for essential workers without adequate insurance who have to make the difficult choices regarding staying quarantined, getting tested, and possibly losing jobs or income as a result of virus exposure. Unfortunately, I have seen far too many people who had to deal with precisely that calculus over the last several months.

Again, I am not an expert and do not have any perfect solutions, but I pray that our country will learn from this experience and figure out better ways to handle similar epidemics in the future.