Coronavirus crisis escalates
Writer first to get Croker COVID-19 test
ACCLAIMED Mallow-born writer Stefanie Preissner was the first in line to get tested for COVID-19 when GAA headquarters Croke Park opened as a ‘drive through’ testing centre earlier this week.
The author of ‘ Can I Say No’ and ‘Why Can’t Everything Just Stay The Same?’, and the writer of ‘Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope’, the hit TV series, had been feeling unwell after returning from London, and her GP recommended she go for a test for the virus.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime show, Stefanie said that she was speaking about her experience to demystify the process for others along the lines of well-regarded attempts on her Instagram account to clarify the issues surrounding the recent election.
Stefanie was referred for testing after she called her GP about a cough and breathlessness. While she said these symptoms are an annual occurrence for her, as she has asthma, her doctor questioned if she had recently travelled.
The HSE called the writer on St Patrick’s Day with an appointment for noon. This was followed by a text message with instructions about where to go and what to do.
“I was the first round of people in,” she said.
Only people with a GP’s referral can get an appointment and you don’t get tested without an appointment.
She said the medics, who are wearing masks, ask for your details through the car window, your name is ticked off and you proceed into a car park, describing it as like driving on to a ferry.
“You are handed a surgical mask and A4 instruction sheet as to what is going to happen,” said Stefanie.
She said the instruction sheet outlined that a swab of the nose and throat would be taken,
The instruction sheet contained a strict instruction prohibiting photography.
“It is very clear and specific,” she said, adding that once every car has been given an instruction sheet, the row of cars “proceed into a convoy into Croke Park”.
Within the Croke Park car park on the Cusack Stand side, there are eight bays and each bay has two medical staff wearing full gowns, masks and gloves.
The writer said it was a “little intimidating” but described the medical staff as “very calm”.
While she said it appeared intimidating, as all the medical personnel are dressed in protective gear, masks, suits, gloves, she added it was a “very easy process for people to go through”.
She was told that her test results would take three to five days to be returned, and she will have to self isolate until she gets the results.
The medics in the bays talk each person through what is going to happen, stating that the patient will not be contacted directly, but the result will be passed onto their GP.
If referred to the testing facility by the HSE, the results will be given to them.
She said a six-page document is given to each person as they leave, explaining what has happened and what would happen next.
The letter explains how to keep well, and why it is not a person’s fault that the got the virus.
Croke Park is just one of over 30 sites earmarked by the HSE as an area to test for Covid-19, as it is expected cases of the virus could reach 15,000 within the coming weeks. It is expected centres will be opened in Cork in the coming days.