Thread by @Karabo_Mokgoko

I decided to drive to the lab after the president announced that people that travelled from mid February to get tested.

I want to highlight something that annoyed me when I got to the hospital/ lab. #CoronaVirusSA

I am not showing symptoms, we left the United States on the 29th of February and arrived on the 1st of March.

It’s now been more than 14 days with no symptoms. But I decided to get tested not only to reduce my anxiety but not to infect anyone should I have it.

Again, no symptoms. But I have anxiety. I checked a hospital lab that’s open 24 hours and we just got here.

We went straight to the lab, it’s outside of the main hospital. When we rang the bell the they took about 10 minutes to open the door. We then noticed that they wear wearing protective gear. From the overalls to masks and gloves.

Told the lady why we are there. And she told us we need to be referred by a doctor to get there. I asked why? She said because they need to control the number of people going to the labs so that people don’t just go there before the doctor checking if they have symptoms.

I tell her again then we are not experiencing symptoms so the doctor visit might not help with anything. Then she revealed something very weird. She said South African doesn’t have enough testing equipment.

SH!T IS ABOUT TO HIT THE FAN! We don’t have enough facilities for #CoronaVirusSA

Now if we need to go to the hospital/ doctor first to get a referral. There are sick people all over! Sick with corona or maybe just sick which puts them at more risk of getting even more sick, or worse dying.

I’m not panicking
I’m not panicking
I’m not panicking

There are people coughing in here 😭😭😭 currently at the casualty to get a doctor to see us and write a referral to take to the lab to test. And people are coughing and sneazing. OMG, what if I get the virus here?

P.S. I spoke to the lab lady very respectfully, I tried getting information to understand their procedures. My mom is a healthcare professional and I know what they go through. I am a very inquisitive person.

I needed to know and understand why what we were being told by the government and media contradicts what I was being told.

The number wasn’t working. What do you expect?

They told us Lancet laborotries are doing tests for R1400 or so, that’s why I went. It’s not an actual science lab the entire facility, you can walk in and do tests.

We were examined by the nurse and she says she sees no reason for us to get tested.

We are kindly insisting because the president just said that anyone that travelled from mid February to get tested.

We’ve been waiting for over an hour to see the doctor. I pay too much money for medical aid for waiting this long maaan

The doctor agreed for us to get tested because she can see how stressful this is on us but says she doubts it will come positive. But she gave us a warning ⚠️
“The medical aid won’t pay for the test if it comes back negative, only if it’s positive”

So these people want us sick?

So they took my swabs and say they can’t guarantee that the health department will test them.

Filled out so many forms which included list of people I’ve been in contact with. Private hospital or not, the government controls this. I’m defeated.

Just as I got home I got a call from the hospital. They say the health department rejected everything and won’t allow me to get tested for Corona.

Expect to get government hospital treatment even when you go to a private hospital for Corona because all this is controlled by them.

People are missing the point here. I didn’t go get tested because of my anxiety

I literally went to get tested after the president announced that people that travelled from mid February to get tested. As per instruction. To make sure I won’t spreAd it unknowingly.

Anyway while I was having a chat with the doctor on call yesterday she explained that there’s no need to panic, this is just another type of flu, and me not being old and not being a baby or having existing medical conditions I will be fine.

Let that be comforting to you, FLU.

Comparing our country to other countries saying we facing the same problem won’t help. We need to deal with this without looking out relaxed.

Don’t forget to wash your hands guys. Despite live tweeting my panic attack yesterday. South Africa will be fine. I hope it will. Kids must stay indoors.

This is what I got charged for yesterday. All they did was ask me questions and my travels and symptoms. Oh and they added the mask they gave me to the bill.

I was called entitled for wanting to get tested without symptoms. Please check this tweet

https://twitter.com/idriselba/status/1239617034901524481?s=21

https://twitter.com/idriselba/status/1239617034901524481