The CDC wouldn’t let us get tested.
Athena – Seattle, WA
I am a Privacy, Accessibility, and Security expert in Seattle. Our family home is 30 minutes from the American epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. I have symptoms and so does my spouse. My spouse is considered an essential worker and was told by their employer first that they could self-quarantine for 14 days without pay but that their job would be there when they came back. The next day, a representative from their corporate office came in and said that if they chose to self-quarantine, they would be considered to have abandoned their job.
On March 19th, my symptoms started to worry me. I called my doctor’s office. There was an automated screener message directing me to go online and make an appointment with an in-house virtual provider as I was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. After waiting 3 hours for a virtual provider, I was told that I should be tested but the provider had no idea where to send us and told me to google it. She also said that we could just drive up to a drive-thru testing site without an appointment or a referral. Both of those assertions were false. I pushed and she tried to send us to the Kirkland Life Care facility because she thought they might be operating drive-thru testing there 25 miles from home. When I asked if there was anything closer, she told us to go to a site in North Seattle.
She never put in an actual referral for us. I was given misinformation about testing by one of the people whose sole job it is to deal with COVID-19, who is working for a healthcare system whose main priorities are not human wellbeing but profit.
There was no useful information online, and what I did see was that we would need a doctor’s referral and an appointment at any testing facility. I called my doctor’s office back. They told us to go to their testing facility about 10 minutes south in Burien and were incredulous that the first provider didn’t know about the Burien facility. My doctor called ahead on the other line while I waited and told us to go to their Burien testing site. We went there immediately and waited to be seen for hours.
The registration worker didn’t have a mask on and wasn’t wearing gloves. While we were there, an emergency happened and two of the three providers on staff were sent home. We were tested for strep and flu, then told that the CDC would not allow us to be tested for COVID-19 because we were not critical, elderly, or immune-compromised. The testing facility released us both without testing us for the virus. The doctor said that she would have loved to have tested us.
She lamented that there simply weren’t enough tests. Then she said, “There is no cure, what would a positive test do for you?”
“But I can’t breathe when I lie down.”
“Sorry, the CDC says we can’t. I would love to test you.”
“What if it gets worse?”
“Go to the ER.”
I was already out of work when the outbreak began. I have received so many emails this week from jobs that I applied to saying that they were under a hiring freeze and no longer filling the position at this time. I am lucky enough to be able to do my work remotely, but finding a company that is hiring under current economic conditions is another matter entirely. My partner is medically barred from working and will not be paid enough to cover their bills. If the Senate Republicans get their way, despite the fact that I make nothing right now, I will be above the threshold to receive a relief check because I had a good job in 2018. My spouse, conversely, would almost certainly fall through the cracks of that proposal due to means-testing. Neither one of us qualifies for unemployment. It’s a scary time for our family.
From the very beginning, the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of disastrous. The Trump administration knew as early as January that this was coming and that it was going to be bad. The US had the opportunity to ensure that we had enough medical supplies like tests, protective gear, respirators, and swabs; all of which we are critically low on already. Instead of preparing for the impending crisis, our lawmakers passed an investor bailout with lightning speed, yet they are still playing politics with our lives, wasting precious time arguing about how ordinary people don’t deserve enough money to survive without work until the end of this crisis.
The number of confirmed American cases is not representative of how widespread the virus is, because they are only testing people showing the most serious symptoms. People who interact with the public aren’t being tested. This is going to get worse. We must build a movement to win Medicare For All, and ensure paid leave for every American impacted by COVID-19, regardless of the details. We are all in trouble. Working class people need a freeze on the collection of rent and mortgage payments. Balances accrued during this crisis must be forgiven. Otherwise, many people will still be evicted the moment that landlords are able to. Those same people will be in debt that they can't repay because they had no income during the worst of it.
We need to bail out the people not big business or the banks, now.
