COVID-19: Who Should Get Tested -- Georgia Edition
So. I'm sitting around the house, trying to avoid working in the yard (it's hot already) and I was wondering about COVID-19 testing. Specifically, who should get tested? Only those with symptoms? Anybody that has the time and can afford it? Everybody?
Seriously, if you have symptoms and are worried that you have it, what should you do? But as testing expands and public health officials are trying to get a better picture of who has it (or has had it), shouldn't we (the People) be testing everybody? I mean, is it my civic duty to go get tested? (I feel fine and have no reason to think I have the virus. Thanks for asking.)
I decided to start with the CDC -- the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
They have a "Testing for COVID-19" web page. It has a section: "Who Should Be Tested"
As you can see, it says: "CDC has guidance for who should be tested, but decisions about testing are made by state and local health departments or healthcare providers." So I click on that link, choose "Georgia" and it's off to the Georgia Department of Public Health site. One of the first things I see is a "COVID-19 answers" chatbox. Why not? As you can see, I typed in the question, "Who should get tested?".
"The answer to this question is changing daily, so keep checking..." I read the whole thing but it never really answered the question: Should I get tested? In a roundabout way, it does let you know that you can't just get tested. You have to call or "register" online. You also have to get "approved".
Okay, but while I'm there I thought I'd check on where I could get tested...if I ever figure out if I should be tested. There's a page for that too. The county seat (and largest town) where I live is Zebulon so I typed that into the search box.
Okay. The county I live in is Pike so let's see if that works.
Okay, let me just look at the listings of the sites. Dear Lord what is this?
They're alphabetized by location name? Yet the first entry is "West Rome..."? Allen Creek Soccer Complex is in Gainesville, GA. Who knew? I scrolled through the whole thing. "Childrens (Hospital? What?) at Mount Zion is at 2201 Mt Zion Pkwy , Morrow, GA 30260, United States. Well, that "Untied States" part was helpful. Morrow, GA. Okay. I know where that is. Is that as close as they have? It went like that for the whole of Georgia. I finally guess that the Upson County Civic Center, 101 Civic Center Dr., Thomaston, GA 30286, United States was probably the closest to me.
I've heard I can get a test done at the new (just in time for the pandemic) Family Health Clinic in Zebulon. I just don't know that. I just heard it.
I could make some comments on the state of our Public Health system in the United States. Or on the United States' choice of public policy for healthcare in general. But I think a picture is worth 90,000 lives.
Don Brown
May 23, 2020
Seriously, if you have symptoms and are worried that you have it, what should you do? But as testing expands and public health officials are trying to get a better picture of who has it (or has had it), shouldn't we (the People) be testing everybody? I mean, is it my civic duty to go get tested? (I feel fine and have no reason to think I have the virus. Thanks for asking.)
I decided to start with the CDC -- the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
They have a "Testing for COVID-19" web page. It has a section: "Who Should Be Tested"
As you can see, it says: "CDC has guidance for who should be tested, but decisions about testing are made by state and local health departments or healthcare providers." So I click on that link, choose "Georgia" and it's off to the Georgia Department of Public Health site. One of the first things I see is a "COVID-19 answers" chatbox. Why not? As you can see, I typed in the question, "Who should get tested?".
"The answer to this question is changing daily, so keep checking..." I read the whole thing but it never really answered the question: Should I get tested? In a roundabout way, it does let you know that you can't just get tested. You have to call or "register" online. You also have to get "approved".
Okay, but while I'm there I thought I'd check on where I could get tested...if I ever figure out if I should be tested. There's a page for that too. The county seat (and largest town) where I live is Zebulon so I typed that into the search box.
Okay. The county I live in is Pike so let's see if that works.
Okay, let me just look at the listings of the sites. Dear Lord what is this?
They're alphabetized by location name? Yet the first entry is "West Rome..."? Allen Creek Soccer Complex is in Gainesville, GA. Who knew? I scrolled through the whole thing. "Childrens (Hospital? What?) at Mount Zion is at 2201 Mt Zion Pkwy , Morrow, GA 30260, United States. Well, that "Untied States" part was helpful. Morrow, GA. Okay. I know where that is. Is that as close as they have? It went like that for the whole of Georgia. I finally guess that the Upson County Civic Center, 101 Civic Center Dr., Thomaston, GA 30286, United States was probably the closest to me.
I've heard I can get a test done at the new (just in time for the pandemic) Family Health Clinic in Zebulon. I just don't know that. I just heard it.
I could make some comments on the state of our Public Health system in the United States. Or on the United States' choice of public policy for healthcare in general. But I think a picture is worth 90,000 lives.
Don Brown
May 23, 2020
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