Thread by @DrAndrewHuang

Covid 19 testing. A rant.

Last night my daughter developed a snotty nose. This morning I developed some nasal congestion.

Off to the Covid19 test centre we went.

Saturday morning morphed into Saturday afternoon. There was a long line, and that's ok. I got my daughter to read Wushka - thank goodness for the eduroam provider in the vicinity that powered my trusty Lenovo tablet because my Pixel 4 was running low on juice.

When we got to the desk, I got a surly check-in clerk. My registration was seamless, but my daughter's was problematic.

He asked for UR, Phone number and DOB. I gave him my daughter's UR, my phone number and her DOB. No joy.

I then gave him my daughter's UR, my wife's phone number and my daughter's DOB. Still no joy. Then UR, my wife's phone number and my DOB. No joy.

So I re-registered her. Still no joy.

The problem was the surly clerk should have been asking for UR, my phone and my DOB.

He was about to send me away again until someone intervened.

Now a little aside. I've been self-testing via PCR for about 2-3 months now. Usually weekly or fortnightly. I've learnt that when you aim along the base of the nasopharynx, testing is not very stimulating nor painful.

My own test was ok. I forward flexed my head to make the tester's vector more caudal towards the base of the nasopharynx.

I was shocked then I saw how cephalad the tester aimed with my daughter.

Two or three things.
1. Why is the registration system so unclear with dependents? Why don't they make it clear that they want the parent's DOB and phone number?
2. Why do testers still keep going cephalad? Why aren't they trained properly? Who do we blame for the next brain Bx?

3. And why don't we trust people to do their own tests? Wouldn't it be more efficient to have people put in their UR, have a computer spit out some stickers, and have a machine dispense a swab and collection jar? And have an instructional video they can watch in line?

And then a self-test cubicle? And then a drop box for the tests? That to me would be a great business model. You could employ fewer people (divert them to doing contact tracing or something) and potentially do more tests. (The centre temporarily closed while we were in line).