In Testing Times

 


Inspired by the example of my friends Gordon and John I decided that it was time for a second COVID 19 test.  (The first was at least ten weeks ago - and the Virus is now rampant in Florida, thanks to Governor Ron DeathSantis).

Yesterday morning I took myself to a testing site at the Robert Taylor Community Complex in north Sarasota.  The parking lot was almost full.  There were at least 75 people in line.  It was obviously unwise to leave Zion in the car for what might have been an hour or so.

Off we went to the University Town Centre ( a ghastly place with a huge mall, and satellite plazas).

Uh oh!  My computer search via Bing hadn't told me that the testing site was now at a new location.

Fortified by lunch Z and I set off to the new (drive up) site. Entrance is via a long drive way, then a left hand loop through a maze of traffic cones.

I was second in line - great!)   until I figured out the system;  revealing that I was in one of at least six parallel lanes, each with about nine cars.

My lane was second to last to be allowed to move.

This system was repeated twice.  Of course, it was the only way to accommodate so  many cars in a limited space; and to ensure an orderly flow to the testing site itself.

Once there the car in front of me held four people, so there was a bit of a delay.  And finally the test itself - a nasal swab.

Kudos to the traffic monitors  -  many of them from the Florida National Guard.   Kudos also to the medical staff.

It was about an hour from start to finish.  I am not a patient person so I have a wee trick.  In such situations I pretend to be patient.  "Fake it 'till you make it"  -  it works!

And Zion, ever patient, was safe in the back seat of my well air conditioned car.

Here's the kicker.  By the time I got home, some twenty minutes after being tested, the result had been sent by text to my mobile phone.

I tested negative  (as I had expected)  - with the report delivering some caveats about the method of testing.

I chose to have a second test because of an abundance of caution on my part.  Of course I follow wise precepts regarding social distancing and mask wearing.  Not all people do so.

Better to be safe than sorry, for me and especially for a health compromised friend whose home I will visit on Thanksgiving.






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