Here's what happened when a Seattleite tried to get tested for coronavirus

Mar 3 2020, 11:54 pm

With Seattleites panic buying and taking advanced measures to keep themselves COVID-19-free, you’d hope that the government and healthcare workers would take the threat of pandemic as seriously.

With a total of 21 coronavirus cases in King County, we’ve learned that Public Health Officials are planning to create an isolation community for those infected, as well as modular housing to help get homeless persons off the streets.

We’ve learned of what is being done to those already infected, but we have missing information on what to do if we believe that we are one of the undetected COVID-19 cases.

Twitter user @into_the_brush dealt with this problem firsthand this week when trying to get tested for the virus.

In a Twitter thread on March 2, @into_the_brush shared that she’s a healthcare worker at a Seattle physical therapy clinic with many patients who are 65 and older.

With a history of chronic bronchitis and all symptoms of COVID-19 including fever, cough, and shortness of breath, she acted responsibly and tried to get tested.

She first called the coronavirus hotline and gave up after being on hold for 40 minutes. She then tried using the CDC and Washington’s public health websites, which, according to @into_the_brush, had no information regarding testing and told her to seek a primary care doctor.

From there, she’d apparently called a hospital, which transferred her once again to a COVID-19 hotline to answer her questions.

@into_the_brush was then told that she’d only be treated if she develops pneumonia or bronchitis, which she deems “very likely” due to her history of chronic bronchitis.

Other Twitter users have been leaving their comments on her original post, sharing their experiences.

Daily Hive has reached out to both @into_the_brush and King County Health for further comment. 

Alyssa TherrienAlyssa Therrien

+ News
ADVERTISEMENT