I hope all of my readers are healthy and safe during a time when the pandemic is getting truly scary in parts of the United States, and the world. It is particularly sobering that we had more deaths from the virus yesterday than the entire country did from terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
New York City is starting to see its hospitalizations and ICU beds used due to COVID rise. Data seems to indicate that we have a few hundred ICU beds still available and a few thousand hospital beds, but with COVID rates on the rise, as well as hospital and ICU beds used due to COVID on the rise, we should not get complacent here in New York City. If you want to track data in New York on a day-to-day basis, I highly recommend your visiting the coronavirus tracker webpage for an online newspaper called The City.
With statistics trending in the wrong direction, there are noises about more things shutting down in New York City before long. Things such as indoor dining, which have been open at a reduced capacity for the past few months, may be in danger of shutting down completely in order to try and not let this virus go too out of control again. I fear though that we may be too late–since many ignored the warnings of our public health experts with regards to behaviors during the recent Thanksgiving holiday, I expect the virus to continue to get worse in New York, and nationwide. I hope I am wrong.
I want to spend most of my post though talking about my experience with getting a COVID-19 test. I got a COVID-19 test for the first time on Sunday so I thought it was worth sharing what the experience was like…
So, to give some backstory, a couple of family members had some symptoms of COVID-19 due to something that was acting like a head cold. Even though it was acting as something no more serious than a head cold for them, I decided to get a COVID test anyway since there is some overlap between COVID symptoms and head cold symptoms.
The test itself was not too bad. Having swabs go into your nose is not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but that didn’t last for long. All in all, for a virus so serious and so deadly, it was not a particularly painful experience. Having blood drawn is to me a much more unpleasant experience than the COVID test that was administered to me.
The experience beyond the test was a lot more mixed. Positives of the experience include receiving free masks, getting free hand sanitizer (not sanitizer I personally needed, but some people do want and/or need that), and a relatively simple process to ensure that I learned the results of my test (which came back negative, by the way, so I don’t have COVID). Negatives of the experience include standing in a long line in cold weather (it was a walk-in site and not a drive-in site) and the fact that the seating area where some people were waiting for test results had some individuals who were unmasked. Overall, if I felt COVID symptoms or knowingly came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID, I would still get a test and strongly advise people in a similar sort of situation to also get a test. That being said, I think that in order to successfully test and perform contact tracing, we need to make the COVID testing process as pleasant as possible–something that New York City is I think trying to do through the free masks and hand sanitizer, but needs to improve on through more testing sites (something which admittedly may be difficult to achieve if we do not have adequate tests available to begin with).
Hopefully, my mixed review does not scare anyone away from getting a COVID test! In spite of my mixed review of the testing experience, I am glad to have the peace-of-mind of having that negative COVID test. And, if it was found out that I tested positive, appropriate actions could be taken so that others could quarantine accordingly, and protect others yet from the virus. While the testing experience itself was not ideal, testing is important and needs to exist more widely. What’s also important is social distancing and wearing your mask over your mouth and your nose.
Blind Injustice 
Seriously? People weren’t wearing masks who were waiting to be tested? Argh!😡 Anyway, despite the negatives, I’m glad you went and were negative. Thanks for sharing your experience Brendan.
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Yep. I can’t make this stuff up. It drove me nuts. An unmasked person waiting to receive the results of a COVID test.
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Stupid question, but weren’t there any medical personnel seeing this?
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That’s not a stupid question at all Kim. My theory is that medical personnel were so busy doing their jobs that they didn’t notice this.
Another theory is that some of the non-maskers around here can get rather violent, and that non-confrontation is a form of self-preservation.
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Reblogged this on By Hook Or By Book and commented:
This is Brendan’s latest post from NYC. He has some great info on what it was like getting a COVID test.
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Thanks for sharing! Hopefully my insights on what it’s like to get a COVID test will be helpful.
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I found it so Brendan. Stay safe.
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I am glad you tested negative, and you are right the need for testing outweighs any discomfort you might have. They need to make more sites so that lines go down. We have more sites, but was watching on the news that certain parts of the state have none at all and they are particularly bad because they are near the state lines with Rhode Island who are experiencing a surge. So many people travel to the next state for work or shopping.
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Yep. Completely agree.
I also wonder if the extent to which the Trump administration has botched testing has contributed to these issues we’re seeing and experiencing.
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Thanks for sharing the details of your experience, Brendan. We are far from out of the woods with this virus. Our infection rate is also on the rise here is South Africa.
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Yeah, I think that it’s on the rise in many parts of the world, unfortunately.
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We have people not wearing masks all over Florida. We have 1.1 million positive cases in Florida right now. Almost 60,000 hospitalizations and over 20,000 deaths. And people are still going out without masks! Thank you Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump! We are getting ready to get the first wave of vaccines in Northeast Florida so I’m praying that it works without serious side effects to where everyone can eventually get it. I’m ready to get back to some semblance of life as we once knew it.
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It is frustrating. I think one of the biggest mistakes President Trump made with COVID was to politicize mask-wearing and social distancing. Given his base, if he pushed his supporters to all wear masks, my guess is that at least tens of thousands of lives would have been saved.
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100% agree! My husband & I both feel the same way. I was a lifelong Republican since I was 18. Voted for Reagan they year I turned 18. I couldn’t in good conscience stay that way. Changed my ticket last December. I will still vote for the best candidate in my mind because I’m really a bipartisan. The whole cult of what Trump is reminds me of Waco…just on a larger scale.
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Yeah, the extent to which people are willing to follow Trump (even if it involves harm to self or others) is scary. It’s unfortunate that such a loyal (Cultish?) following was not utilized for following health precautions here.
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Yes, that is right on the button!
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Thanks for sharing the 9/11 factoid. Never forget, right? Also, not sure when it happened, but congrats on passing 1k followers!
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You’re welcome. It’s a sad factoid, really. As a New Yorker, I can say that 9/11 was one of the worst, most horrifying days my city and this country experienced in recent times. And now we are going through that, every single day in all likelihood for the time being, with this virus.
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Also, thanks for the congrats! I think I passed it a couple of months ago but forget the exact date. I remember when I had, like, five followers–how time flies!
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