Thread by @FurmanK8

woke up today with a cough, sore throat, and shortness of breath. I decided pretty quickly that I needed to do the responsible thing and get a #COVID test.

Here is the story of how tumultuous it is to try to do this through @umich University Health Service. #thread 🧵 (1/n)

A lot of people had told me to just go to Walgreens in Ypsi, or just go to urgent care, but without a car, the UHS was my only feasible option. I heard they won’t test you unless you have symptoms, but i DID have symptoms, so it wouldn’t be a problem. right? (2/n)

wrong! I start by calling UHS, the robot on the phone tells me that if i am experiencing COVID symptoms I have to fill out a questionnaire on the UHS website.

The UHS website tells me if i have COVID symptoms, i have to call UHS right away.

so.... now what? (3/n)

I keep calling UHS, unable to find the questionnaire on the site. Finally get through to a person, who tells me I have to fill out the questionnaire on the site. yeah, thanks.

she just DMs it to me because I’m already a member of the patient portal (what if I hadnt been?) (4/n)

So I fill out the survey. It is INCREDIBLY long. Asks what symptoms I have, how long I’ve had them, what type of housing I live in, how many roommates I have. All good, I’m glad it’s detailed! That was great. But it does include an entire section on your housing situation (5/n)

and makes it clear that if you don’t have your own private bedroom AND bathroom, you may be asked to quarantine in the official quarantine dorms. Knowing what I know about the quarantine dorms, if I was an undergrad, I would abandon the survey right there. No time for that. (6/n)

But I didn’t abandon the survey, luckily I have my own bedroom and could pick my own bathroom in my house if I needed to. So i submit the survey, and it says a doctor will review my symptoms and see if i qualify for testing. excuse me???? qualify????? (7/n)

I have a cough, a sore throat, and shortness of breath. I said this over the phone, and this is precisely the symptoms @DrMarkSchlissel ‘s COVID emails tell us should warrant testing. But still, I must wait for someone to deem my symptoms test worthy. (8/n)

It took 6 hours. I submitted the survey at 10am, and heard back just before 4. Luckily, I called and asked about the status of my questionnaire, because someone HAD FORGOTTEN TO FORWARD IT TO THE DOCTOR. prolonging the process by many hours. (9/n)

The person on the phone then went through my info in the survey. I had put that i have athsma, a potential risk factor. She asked if I had been using my inhaler, I said something like “no, I haven’t needed it for years, I don’t know if i know where it is.” (10/n)

She then said “well that’s the first thing I’d try. I don’t think you qualify for a COVID test if you’re not using your inhaler, could just be athsma”

I was furious. I did not let that show on the phone. (11/n)

I requested an appointment to discuss these athsma related concerns, and she said I could do that no problem, and maybe they would give me a COVID test. great, maybe. It’s 4:00, she says I can come for my appointment at 4:20. (12/n)

I arrive for my appointment at 4:15, early!! and I am rushed into an isolation room where I sit alone, and the only way they will contact me is over the phone. I wonder why this couldn’t be a phone visit, if I’m not even guaranteed my covid test. (13/n)

UHS closes at 4:30. The time ticks away until 5, when I finally peak my head out the door to see if they forgot about me. It’s been 45 minutes. “oh, yeah, the doctor will be with you right away!”

thanks. (14/n)

The doctor comes in and just does the covid test right away, no “discussion of my athsma concerns” or whatever. I’m grateful to have gotten the test, but why couldn’t they just tell me i would be able to get it? (15/n)

why did they have to verify my symptoms, make me wait 6 hours, then another 45 mins, all under the guise of “maybe you just have athsma” before I was able to get a COVID test? why the distrust in my own account of my symptoms? (16/n)

I knew the COVID situation at @umich was bad, the dashboard makes that clear. But today I learned just how hard, how LONG, and how infuriating of a process it is to get a COVID test here. And my roommates and I were terrified the whole time. (17/n)

I’m so glad I didn’t have the threat of quarantine housing (or as the doctor literally called it, “covid prison”) over my head or I might not have been so proactive about getting a test. I really don’t blame the undergrads for doing just that. (18/n)

All in all, I’m glad I was able to get tested in a convenient location, on the same day my symptoms began. But the hoops and hurdles are so prohibitive, and it is without a doubt making the #COVID #outbreak at @umich much worse. (19/n)

and now.... we wait for the results 🙃 (end/n)

THE COVID TEST CAME BACK NEGATIVE! thanks everyone for your overwhelming support, and for sharing this experience. While it’s frustrating that this sort of experience seems all too common, I’m glad to have gotten the test, and overjoyed to have the negative result.