DC: Unable to get tested even though doctors think it is Coronavirus

[Anonymous]

*gi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She had headache, chills, SOB, stomach cramping and diarrhea

She had no fever, no cough, no chest congestion or respiratory noises, no direct contact with anyone who was infected and she not been been to an outbreak area. She has a history of asthma.

I don't see how her presentation is seen as coronavirus? What released symptom profile does this fit for CoV2?

The headache, chills, shortness of breath, and diarrhea, to start with.

See this is part of the problem, misinformation spreads like wildfire. You now think because this was her presentation and she thinks she has coronavirus that these must be the symptoms for it. They aren't. There is a lot of information about the symptoms and their general presentation pattern and progression. Please read the official information.

I’m a physician and I assure you’ve I’ve been reading “official information.” Thanks for the tip, though!

You are welcome. It is extra important that health professionals be well informed and not take information they see online as fact.

OMG

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone in the health department looked at them symptoms and decided that they aren’t consistent with covid 19. I don’t see the big deal.

The ER infectious disease doctor wanted to test her and the doctor was furious when the health department didn’t agree. I’m gonna trust an ER doctor over some random bureaucrat in the DC govt

[Anonymous]

Why is New York getting all the attention and able to test their citizens. One lawyer and there were a hundred articles about him and everyone he knew. What about the rest of us in other places?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m on Humira. I have a cough for four days and a fever for two. I called to ask my doctor when I should stop taking humira. He said not yet, but asked more about my symptoms and contacts with people who have traveled. He said that if I don’t feel better tomorrow, I should go to the hospital to get tested.

I guess people here think I should ignore that advice and not get tested because hey it doesn’t matter anyway. If that’s the case, and I don’t get tested, should I still send my kids to school, since they seem perfectly healthy?

You forgot attention seeking liar. (Kidding!) Of course you should follow your doctor’s advice just like op’s friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you point us to a public Twitter thread or FB post on this?

It’s really important. And it will get a lot of play on Twitter.

Can you ask her to post on Twitter if she hasn’t?

It's on Twitter already - she's gotten interview requests from Fox Local and CNN but she's so exhausted that she's trying to decide what to do. We have had responses from quite a few news and political people so far trying to put pressure on the Department of Health.

She's a little worried about ugly responses on her thread - but if you shoot me an email [e-mail] - I'll send you a link.

Thanks for your support!

Is this you? Because this looks like the same photo associated with your email address in Troutville?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This lady is an object lesson of what NOT to do. She went to the ER and spread her virus around for no reason. She wasn’t experiencing any emergency symptoms.

Hi I’m the one that is sick. I waited 4 days to go to the ER because I thought it was a bad idea too. The truth is no one else would see me, and I only went after a friend talked to the Director of the department of health who told me to go there. He also told me that if the doctor requested that I be tested then I would be tested. It definitely wasn’t my first choice but I am having trouble with my breathing and needed a doctor to see me. It was the only way to get any medical care. No one else has the capacity to deal with a case that needs isolation.

What did the doctor give you to treat your breathing? Do you use inhalers normally? It seems like you feel you needed medical care - even if CoV2 didn't exist. Who would you normally have seen?

I am curious as to what treatments they are recommending for the breathing issues if the medical team suspected you had CoV2. I am actually surprised that they told you that you likely had CoV2 without any tests - that was poor medical care. You could have any number of things that could explain your symptoms so giving you a provisional diagnosis with no evidence is suspect on their part.

What are you talking about? They did rule out other infections.

OP again - she was there for over 7 hours last night and they ruled out multiple things. The point to all this is that she is someone who needed a test and couldn't get it. in fact, she was told that the only to get it was to go to the ER and even then she couldn't get it. To me, that is insane. What has happened to the medical care in our country? Why does South Korea have it's act together with drive thrus for testing people.

I understand all the questions but this is a very good friend of mine. She asked me to post here because she thought it was information that people should know. She just asked me to monitor the thread for her as usual on DCUM people are getting too mean.

This post was intended as a PSA not a AMA but I'll try to come up with a good topic for that

Per her story, she didn’t get the test because it was determined that she did NOT need it.

The doctor who saw her said she needed the test. Your are ok with someone at the health department overriding the doctor who actually saw her. This is why there is no way I'm voting for anyone supporting Medicare for all instead of Medicare for those who want it. Every decision will be like this.

This wasn't a case of her insurance denying coverage, which is the correct comparison for complaining about Medicare for all.

This was a case of not enough tests. Of a huge mishandling of this pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the Health Dept told her to self quarantine for 14 days and your friend, who was not having worsening symptoms, decided to break quarantine to get tested? What an idiot. Nothing wrong with our health care but everything wrong with a self important asshat.

Wow. Can you read? The health department told her she didn’t need to self quarantine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cruelty in this thread is astonishing

+1 she’s done a good thing by making this public (and a favor to all the doctors who are fighting to get tests for patients.)

Agree. For those saying “why does she need to confirm it’s Covid 19?”....because this is a public health issue. Knowing you have the virus means you can then find contacts and other people in the community who may have been exposed. This is all about limiting the spread of this deadly virus. This goes beyond just one person with symptoms. It can potentially infect many, many people. That is the issue here.

+1 FLATTEN THE CURVE

[Anonymous]

Since two people on here personally know the facebook poster tell her to have her pcp, a walk in clinic, or the ER write a scrip for lab test from Labcorp or Quest.

Both labs now have testing available for coronavirus but you need a scrip to get tested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless she is in urgent circumstances, she shouldn't be going to the hospital. This is exactly the problem. Selfish.

Wrong. She went at the urging of her doctor.

She didn't go at the urging of her doctor!

On Tuesday she called her asthma doctor and told him she thought she had coronavirus - he told her his office couldn't deal with it and to go to the ER. This is called CYA.

She then called GW hospital and they said not to come because they don’t have the tests. They told her that I should call the DC Department of Health.

She called the Department of Health. The man on the phone took a detailed history of her symptoms and her travel history and said that the shortness of breath could be from her asthma, she didn’t have a fever, and because she was low risk she didn't qualify to be tested. he told her to call back if her symptoms changed / worsened

On Wednesday night she was up with stomach cramps and diarrhea.

On Thursday morning she called back to Department of Health and the woman she talked to said that she wouldn't be tested since haven’t been in contact with anyone who has it and that she was low risk. In response to whatever Op was telling her the woman then told her that if she feel she need to be tested, the way to do that is to go to her doctor and her doctor can recommend she be tested.

I called her doctor again (her asthma doctor it sounds like since it was again) who told her the same thing as last time. They aren't equipped to manage coronavirus and to go to urgent care or the emergency room - again CYA. That is what they tell everyone who feels they have a medical need but they can't assess or after hours. It is why it is on phone messages at many places (call 911 or go to a hospital if you think you need medical care) completely unrelated to coronavirus

On Friday, her friend contacted the director of the Department of Health. So now she is trying to move this up the chain of command and using personal contacts to get a different answer than the D of H has given her already. The director can likely see that they have already told her twice that she doesn't meet their testing criteria and that she just isn't going to let this go and she is using personal contacts to make a big deal out of it and bring it to the director level. The director doesn't want any involvement in this. So friend tells her that director said to go to an urgent care center and gave a name. But then friend said that the director said they are testing at GW and she should go there.

So she went to GW. No doctor urged her to go to the Emerg.

She made a fuss, kept repeatedly contacting people who either weren't the right people based on what she was telling them or she didn't like the answer she got, and they did the CYA and said go to Emerg.

[Anonymous]

Why did she break quarantine? Crazy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since two people on here personally know the facebook poster tell her to have her pcp, a walk in clinic, or the ER write a scrip for lab test from Labcorp or Quest.

Both labs now have testing available for coronavirus but you need a scrip to get tested.

No they don't. Don't spread incorrect information.

They will accept samples for testing from hospitals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did she break quarantine? Crazy!

The DOH told her she didn't have to self quarantine.

That's the point.

[Anonymous]

NP. I traveled through West Africa some years back (unsanitary conditions when camping) and a few days after I returned home I developed a nasty virus with very similar symptoms as OP. It was summer so no circulation of flu. I called travel clinic that I used for vaccinations prior to trip and Dr explained the different sorts of viral ailments in other countries. He prescribed antibiotics for my diarrhea in case it was bacterial due to contaminated water. Took me a week to return to normal.