My brother’s COVID test was a ridiculous experience (Opinion)

First of all on a personal note, you don’t know my brother but the poor guy has been through the wringer. My older brother has worked some very tough jobs in the past involving machine shops, tool and die and lots of heavy lifting. The toll it took resulted in two knee replacements and several other surgeries, the latest a major one on his shoulder.

So while he’s been trying to recuperate from that, the last thing he needed happened. A few days ago he came down with body aches, yes the kind you get with flu and also with novel coronavirus. He has a sore throat. He began feeling utterly, crushingly exhausted. The same things you can experience with coronavirus. And one of the most telling symptoms, shortness of breath. It sounds like a textbook case.

So he’s had an odyssey trying to get a COVID-19 test. At first he waited for Monday when he was supposed to have a followup with the surgeon. He had been tested for COVID there before his surgery and he assumed they could give him another test. He was wrong. It was only done for pre-op and he would have to go elsewhere. Then he spent the day calling around and was surprised to learn many places reporting they were out of tests.

What is this, early April?

So finally by Wednesday he found a chain drug store that was administering COVID-19 tests in their parking lot. A simple drive-up and you stayed in your car. They instructed him on how to swab his own nose, which he did. Once it was over he was told something we both find shocking.

It could be as long as 3 to 4 weeks to get the results.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding.

On top of this, as if he had been told it would be a mere 72 hours, he was instructed to isolate in quarantine until the results were in. Really? Quarantine for 3 to 4 weeks? A man who lives alone and needs to get to physical therapy for his surgery to heal? A guy who needs to get some food in his house? No one is to come near him for 3 to 4 weeks?

Also, if he DOES have COVID and isn’t told for 4 weeks, isn’t is likely to either run its course by then or land him in the hospital on a ventilator? What good is this test if results aren’t in for a month?

This cannot be people’s typical experience. When my mother and step-father were tested at Kean University theirs took 6 days to come back and that was considered too long.

Am I wrong? Are so many now being tested that 3 weeks is normal for test results? Let me know in our comment section.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.