What a COVID-19 test feels like
Record reporter Chris Seto woke up with a sore throat and fever, so he decided to get a test. Here is his experience
GUELPH — My symptoms began with a sore throat and a bit of a headache — nothing a good night’s rest couldn’t fix, I thought.
But when the night brought chills, fever and fatigue, I began to retrace my steps over the past week. Had I slipped up in my physical distancing?
Scanning over a list of possible COVID-19 symptoms on the public health website, I began checking off what I was feeling. Headache, fever, fatigue — these could point to a number of different ailments, but all I could think of was one. With my fever rising past 38 degrees, I knew I needed to get tested.
One afternoon last week, I donned a cloth face mask and drove to the assessment centre on Victoria Road in Guelph, not far from my home. When I pulled in, the parking lot was mostly empty and I could see people in gowns and masks through the big glass windows.
The building is a city-owned community centre where I used to swim each week, in the before times. It was strange to see it repurposed in this way.
Before I reached the side entrance, a health worker in full personal protective equipment was waiting for me at the door. She directed me to pocket my mask and use the hand sanitizer provided outside. Once my hands were clean, she handed me a disposable medical mask, watched me put it on correctly and let me in.
Widely-spaced arrows on the floor led to a line made of tape that kept me a safe distance from the health worker sitting at a table. She took down my name, doctor’s name, address, contact information and symptoms. She also asked if I worked in health care and then handed me a bright green sticker to put on my shirt.
Following the arrows further, I walked past the pool where I used to swim. The water was still and the rec centre was quiet. Only one other person was sitting in the hallway. She also wore a green sticker on her shirt.
At the desk where I used to scan my pool pass sat another health worker. Standing behind the line, I read out my health card number and was
handed a sticker with all my information on it.
I didn’t wait long before my name was called and I was led into a former conference room, now sectioned off by temporary walls. The doctor quickly assessed my vitals and put a thermometer to my ear: 37.4 degrees. It seems the Tylenol had brought my temperature down.
Then he brought out the swab.
As he tilted my head back and got me to pull down my mask, he told me this particular swab wasn’t going as deep as other swab tests, but it still might be uncomfortable.
He was right.
Holding up my nose and twirling the end of the swab with his fingers, I felt my right eye begin to water. He suggested I breathe through my mouth as he fed the device inside my head in a careful, smooth motion. The process didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel comfortable.
I found out afterwards the assessment centre had been using nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs up until midApril, but had since changed to using mid-turbinate swabs. The former swabs went a bit deeper than the treatment I was given.
When he pulled the swab out, he put it inside a tube and broke off the end of it. He said someone would call me with the results in up to four business days.
The whole experience took less than 15 minutes. I didn’t have to touch anything except the documents handed to me about the 14-day isolation period.
I was surprised I even was able to get a test. I’m not on the priority groups. When I asked Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health, I was told the assessment centre was following guidelines by Public Health Ontario.
Included in those guidelines is the suggestion: “Clinicians should continue to use their discretion on which individuals to test.”
Four days later, I was feeling much better. My symptoms were mostly gone, but I still hadn’t received a call from public health. Feeling anxious and curious, I went online to check my results.
Punching in my information and waiting for the screen to load, I could feel my pulse racing. When the page finally loaded, my eyes were drawn to a check mark beside bold green letters that read, “Negative.” I did a doubletake just to confirm, but there it was; the date of my test and the corresponding result.
Before this is all over, many people may go through a similar process, especially if testing continues to expand.
Here’s hoping you get the smaller swab.