The pandemic hasn’t been easy by any means. I have mostly put my life on hold, going pretty much nowhere but the grocery store, not eating in restaurants, staying away from friends and family. So, I was never in a position where I felt I needed to get tested for COVID. I began remote work in March 2020. I got vaccinated as soon as possible (even wrote about it in this blog). I got my second shot exactly two weeks after my first and then got boosted as soon as I was eligible.
For a long while I was nervous about getting sick because a COVID infection is a wild card, and you just don’t know what it will do to you, short term or long term. Also, I didn’t want to possibly give it to anyone else. I’m married to someone who is immunocompromised. I’ve seen my friends and family get tested – some got COVID. Some didn’t.
I came back to work in person on this campus in June 2021, like most staff members. I even went to an outdoor concert this past fall and felt pretty comfortable. But as the Omicron variant surged through the country while our campus was on semester break I became more nervous. Suddenly, we were setting records again, bad ones.
As the spring semester started, and campus filled back up with students who have been all over the country for a month, I got even more nervous. I have dodged COVID for two years, and I want to continue to dodge it.
The University of Arkansas contracted with an outside medical provider, Crossroads Medical in Rogers, AR to hold mass testing clinics on campus from Jan. 18 through Feb. 18. The provider set up tents on the Union Mall between the Arkansas Union and Mullins Library and began testing anyone in the campus community who wanted it. So, I decided to ease my growing anxiety and take advantage of the free PCR testing available right outside my office in the Union.
Testing was a process of checking in and giving my information to someone, then doing the same on a web site that was sent to me in a text from Crossroads Medical. I then got a text saying it was my time to test, so I headed to the second tent and answered some more questions as they explained the next steps, which were getting my kit that they were putting together right there and taking it to the testing tent.
Inside this tent is where the testing magic happens. Out comes a really long swab that I know from others’ experience will feel like it’s going straight up to my brain. The nurse giving me the test said, “It’ll be less painful if you hold your breath.” I thought that was weird but is probably what I would say if I had to have people take their mask off right in front of me and stick something up their nose.
I held my breath. In went the swab, deeper than I knew was possible. It was uncomfortable, but also kind of tickled. Really, not a big deal at all. And that was it. Now I must wait all day, or maybe until the next morning to find out my results.
Que “Final Jeopardy” music.
Crossroads Medical staff are available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, for anyone in the campus community to get tested through Feb. 18. There are people walking up to the testing tents all day long. There is never a real long line, but it seems steady through the day, and people are getting tested for different reasons.
“I was hanging out with some friends, and we’ve all been vaccinated and boosted,” said one staff member who tested at the site. “But my friends called me and said they both tested positive. So, I came to the mass clinic to get tested myself.”
As I was getting tested a student walked up to the tent and said while she was in a class, she just got a call from her roommate saying they had tested positive. She felt it was prudent to come get tested right away.
“I’ve had COVID already,” said another student getting tested. “But someone I work with on campus was exposed to someone who was positive. So, we were all encouraged to get a test.”
I decided to wait until the next morning to find out my results, and getting them was very easy. When I got tested, I recevied a piece of paper with a QR code and my specific testing ID number. All I had to do was point my phone’s camera at the QR code, visit the website that came up, input my testing number, and bam, there are the results.
It’s what I suspected – negative! Whew! Peace of mind… for a while at least. Hopefully we are moving past this new COVID surge as quickly as it started. But at least I have a quick PCR testing option for a few weeks if I get nervous again.