Testing, 1, 2, 3 . . .

So as part of the plan to ostensibly re-open the university in the fall, the authorities required all faculty who want to show up on campus to get a Covid-19 test. This meant I had to drive in to Providence for that purpose only, and find my way to a location that was nearly isolated from the universe by the pattern of 1-way streets. It was off Thayer St., which is essentially the Main St. of college town with the typical shops and restaurants that cater to students and faculty, so the idea is that ordinarily people would walk there. They had taken over what had been a sandwich shop and the menu board was still visible.

They had four employees there. One was at the front entrance. She checked me in, looked at my official picture ID apparently because of the danger that someone might impersonate me in order to get this test, took my temperature, and handed me a bar coded tag. I then had to take that to a second employee who sat alone at a 15 foot table, whose sole job was to hand me a zip-loc bag containing the swab. I then walked down to the end of the room where a third employee stood to let me know when it was safe to proceed to the test site. Although I was the only person in the entire place, I was made to wait five minutes.

I finally walked down the hall to find a fourth employee who instructed me in how to administer the test myself. It's fairly uncomfortable -- you have to shove this long swab up your nose, much longer than a Q-tip, past the nostrils into the sinus, and twirl it around for 15 second, on both sides. Then she put the swab in a vial, stuck on the bar code, and I left. At that rate, assuming these folks are reasonably well paid, it would cost maybe 50 bucks a test not counting the lab fees and assuming they are paying rent and electricity. On the other hand there's no obvious reason why there were more than two people there.

I actually live in Connecticut, where we are getting 5 stars for our testing effort. However, I would not have been able to get a test in Connecticut because I have no symptoms, and not in a congregate setting such as nursing home or prison, and do not live in a vulnerable urban community. Were I not on the faculty of Brown University, I would need to call my primary care physician, report symptoms, and get a referral. If I did not have a primary care physician I'm not sure what I would be required to do. I got the results in two days, which is considered not bad but were I contagious that would be two days too long. I wasn't actually worried about it because I knew my chances of being infected were infinitesimal.

Still, this gives me a few things to think about regarding privilege (think pro sports also) and the appropriateness and adequacy of our testing regime, even in a state that's been exceptionally successful at squashing the epidemic.