I've been tested for COVID-19 twice, and it's changed a lot since the first time.
My first test was in June 2020. I was scheduled for prostate surgery, and the hospital in California required me to come in a week before the surgery for COVID testing. The instructions were to drive to Rancho Springs Medical Center, look for the COVID testing signs, get on line, and stay in my car. I found the right area at the appointed time. There was only one car ahead of me and soon it was my turn to drive up to the nurse and lower my window. I knew the test had something to do with a "swab" of the nose but I didn't know any details beyond that. The nurse unwrapped what looked like the longest, thinnest Q-Tip I have ever seen, and told me she told she was going to put this swab up my nostril. What choice did I have but to comply? The swab went up, penetrating intolerably deep into my head. And then, it was rotated 5 times! Finally it was out. It had only taken a couple of seconds, but it's a nasty experience I will never forget. My immediate fear was that she would now need to do the same to the other nostril, but that wasn't the case. "I made a grown man cry" said the nurse sympathetically as she cleared me to put my mask back on and leave.
My second test was in January 2021, a few months after relocating to Texas. One of my teenage son Jon's friends had tested positive for COVID, and we decided to get Becky, Jon, and myself tested the next day. By now, I'd heard, saliva testing was being offered. I looked up where to get tested and made a free appointment for us at Toyota Soccer Stadium in Frisco, TX, just two and a half miles away. Instructions we received included no eating or drinking 20 minutes before the test, and this instructional video. This time, there were many other cars waiting in line at half a dozen lanes. A proctor directed us to lane 1. In a few minutes, we pulled up to a tent and lowered our window. We were each handed a plastic bag with supplies and told to drive up to a second tent. There, we were given step-by-step instructions by a healthcare worker. We unwrapped our swabs, swabbed the insides of our mouths (cheeks, roof of mouth, above and below tongue, gums). The swabs were broken in half and the business end was put in a vial of liquid and the cap closed. Lastly, we put everything including trash in the plastic bags and dropped them into a bin as we left. From start to finish was only about 10 minutes.
Now we had to wait for results, keeping ourselves isolated. But we didn't have to wait long. Less than 48 hours after the test was taken, we were each happy to receive a text like this:
I cannot express how much more pleasant the saliva swab is to having a stick jammed up into your brain.
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