The Reality of Coronavirus Testing
COVID-19 Testing Kit | Graphic by James Gocke
The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.
Laying in my bed with a high fever and cough, I surrendered to the idea of living my worst fear—having the coronavirus. With a mother that has Common Variable Immune Deficiency and grandparents over the age of 70, I couldn’t help but think of the implications outside of my own physical body.
I broke into a sweat brought on by the ibuprofen that had just entered my bloodstream and my anxiety of giving the virus to anyone that I love. The pain in my body seemed minuscule compared to the guilt I knew I would feel if my mother contracted the virus.
I was painfully alone. The once comforting posters on the cheery blue walls of my childhood bedroom now seemed a mockery as I laid awake at night, unable to sleep, eat, and, slowly but surely, breathe. The routines that I had developed to cope with the loneliness began to bore me. Nothing could distract from the reality that I was confined to my 12 by 14 feet bedroom. My parents would stand in the doorway, wave to me, recite that they loved me, and bring me water.
As someone who has had troubling asthma in the past, my mom fought for me to have access to a test. She also wanted to be able to protect herself to the best of her ability, so she called my doctor. Due to low stock of personal protective equipment (PPE), the nurses recommended that I come by the office the next day so they could test multiple patients at once.
According to the CDC, every state has laboratories designated to coronavirus testing. According to The COVID Tracking Project, 7,759,771 tests have been conducted in the U.S. as of May 7. But somehow, Americans are still struggling to get tested.
Luckily, I’m currently home in Kentucky, a state that has been able to test over 70,000 people, and of those people, the number of positive cases is just surpassing 5,500. Kentucky has generally had easily accessible testing, unlike states such as New York or New Jersey.
Morgan Chittum, a JCS major at The King’s College, didn’t have this same luxury. Because she is located in Brooklyn and is in the age group that isn’t at high risk for pneumonia, she was assumed positive for COVID-19 by her doctor without being tested. They recommended that she treat herself as if she had the virus. She used an inhaler and quarantined herself in her apartment.
“I’m alone in Brooklyn so thankfully I didn’t give the virus to my roommates, but it’s definitely been hard,” Chittum said. “I think of myself as very introverted, but turns out I really rely on people much more than I anticipated.”
Chittum experienced many of the common COVID-19 symptoms—fever, cough and body aches.
“I would say I’m a pretty healthy person but I felt terrible for over two weeks,” Chittum said. “It was painful to walk, it was painful to breathe, I couldn’t smell or taste anything. My coffee tasted like water.”
I experienced the same symptoms when the day finally came for me to get tested. I put on a mask and left my room for the first time in days. I hated that I had to experience this all alone.
I slowly slid into a parking spot at my doctor’s office as two nurses walked to my car carrying the testing materials in full PPE, which my mother, also a nurse, likes to call a “bunny suit.” They asked me to roll down my window and lean back in my seat. I nodded and they shoved the testing materials up my nose. I “should expect results in three to five days,” they said, and I left.
I’m one of the lucky ones, not only because I tested negative, but because I had access to a test at all. Many Americans don’t have access to testing, let alone young people who are considered to be less at risk. Americans everywhere, especially in high-risk cities, are being denied testing. Because of this reality, the number of coronavirus cases are bound to increase significantly.
Even though Chittum wasn’t tested, she still took precautionary measures to ensure the safety of herself and those around her. Alone and sick, Chittum managed to find aspects of her life to be grateful for.
“I’m immensely lucky to have a home, friends that check on me regularly, and supportive faculty and staff at King’s who’ve gone the extra mile to make sure I’m safe,” Chittum said.
Around Chittum in the New York City area, there are over 330,000 confirmed cases. This is just over 28 percent of New York City’s population.
In Kentucky, we are at a much lower risk. When my mom got the call that I had tested negative for the coronavirus, I could hardly contain my joy and relief. However, though I may be safe, Americans everywhere continue to be infected and struggle to find testing.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the coronavirus task force, has been working with President Trump. In March, Fauci commented on the state of testing for COVID-19 in America in an interview with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida.
"The idea of anybody getting it [COVID-19 testing] easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that," Fauci told Wasserman Schultz, "Do I think we should be? Yes. But we're not."