Do I have COVID-19? About 1.1 million people in Georgia have been tested for COVID-19. Nearly 21,000 new cases were reported today. Although the number of positive tests has been about 10%, today’s results indicated that 16% of the tests were positive. To stop the spread of the virus, contact tracing needs to be expanded and supported. But will it?

The question for this post is, Do I have Covid-19? Am I one of the 10% who tested positive. Whether I do or not, is something I can’t tell you right now. I won’t know my results for about 10 days?

COVID-19 Out-of-Control?

Right now, COVID-19 spread is out of control in the U.S. More than 70,000 new cases are being reported every day. More than 3.7 million Americans have been infected. More than 140,000 have died. And in many states, especially Florida, Texas, California, South Carolina, & Georgia, the rate of increase is playing havoc with these state’s health care systems, again.

As seen in Figure 1, coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the south and west of the U.S. Because of the spread, openings are being scaled-back. Masks are being mandated in some states. And many national brand companies won’t let you in the door to shop without a face covering. Yet, here in Georgia, the governor is suing the city of Atlanta over the use of face masks.

Contact Tracing

Testing is a key in controlling the spread of coronavirus. However, getting the results quickly, in a day or two, is necessary to carry out a robust COVID-19 contact tracing program, which has been shown to stop the spread of the virus. It requires a lot of people to implement and carry out a contact tracing program. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has failed us in this regard. They announced today that no new funds will be allocated for testing and contact tracing. This is one more part of the national coronavirus failure. Trump thinks that more testing makes him look bad, even if more people are getting infected, and more are dying.

However, most states have begun their own contact tracing programs. The idea is to call people who have been infected by coronavirus, and find out who they came in contact with.

Contact tracing has been shown to work in other countries. South Korea is a good example. However, contact tracing, which many states have begun, is having serious problems. The underlying problem is lack of cooperation. If you are called by the state’s health department or designated provider, will you pick up the phone? And if you do, will you answer the interviewers questions about COVID-19? When they call, they know that you infected with COVID-19. They want to know how you are. But they also want to know who you have been in contact with recently. They’ll ask for information on these people, and then they will call them and ask them to get tested. The process continues trying to identify those who might be infected followed by testing and quarantine.

I’ve reported on this blog the contact tracing program that Massachusetts began in April. Nearly 2,000 contact tracers were hired and trained. However, over the past three months, about half of these folks were laid off. Problems developed between Partners in Health and local community agencies. Some local health agencies said that it was taking too long for Partners in Health to contact people who were initially infected. Trying to identify people who came in contact with the initially infected persons was even more difficult. And, the purpose of contact tracing is get to those people who were in close proximity to the infected, and get them tested. Without this happening, it’s difficult to stop the spread.

Getting Tested

The question I raised at the beginning of this post is, Do I have COVID-19? Let me explain.

About three weeks ago I occasionally had chills. Just out of the blue. I wondered what was this all about? I have written quite a bit about the COVID-19 pandemic, on this blog, and have followed the recommendations of science which included wearing a mask, keeping at safe distances from others, washing my hands, and using hand sanitizers liberally. For most of the day, I am at home with my wife.

According to the CDC, people with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

The only symptom on the list that applied to me was chills. I had none of the others.

I got in touch with my primary care physician. He scheduled a virtual appointment on June 29. At the time of the video visit, I was feeling fine. So, he said to just monitor my condition, and keep him informed of any further episodes of chills.

The next week, the chills appeared again. I decided to make a face-to-face visit with him, and was all set to see him at his office on July 6. But at about 8 a.m. that day, he called to tell me that I should get a COVID-19 test before coming to see him. He suggested Piedmont Urgent Care, or Peachtree Urgent Care.

I was able to get an appointment with one of Peachtree Urgent Care centers for July 13. I had assumed it would be a COVID-19 testing center, but after I waited for about 1/2 hour, I was told that they didn’t do COVID-19 testing at this center. Fortunately, I had contacted the Piedmont Urgent Care system, and was able to get virtual appointment for July 20 at 5:45 A.M. I assumed they will follow this online meeting with a face-to-face meeting to get tested. But I had no idea when.

But over the past few days, I kept getting chills, and not only that, I was getting tingling in my hands and feet! Tingling can be a sign of nerve damage, or a sign of a viral infection. Viral infection? COVID-19 I thought. It also could be a sign of diabetic neuropathy

But I couldn’t get a test. I logged into both sites I identified above, and spent hours trying to book a COVID-19 test. No luck. But, I still had the virtual appointment on the 20th.

I was concerned about the previous night’s episode of chills and tingling, so we (my wife and I) decided to go a local American Family Care center about 1 mile from our home in Marietta, GA. I had visited American Family Care website, and then called their office because they advertised that they do COVID-19 testing! But when I listened to their phone recording they indicated they temporarily were not doing COVID-19 testing because they were out of test kits.

I still went to the clinic. After filling out the necessary paper work, I was greeted by a nurse, who checked all my vitals. I explained what I thought was going on, and when one of center’s doctors came in and listened, she said yes. It most likely is diabetic neuropathy that was causing the tingling. But we talked mostly about COVID-19. She said that nearly all of the folks that come to her that test positive for COVID show no signs, what so ever. No chills, no fever, no cough. She said, what good does it do to check people’s temperature before they get on or off an airplane?

I told her that I had tried to get a COVID-19 test at her clinic. She asked if would like a test? Yes, I would. It turned out that they had a few cancellations, and thus had a few test kits in stock. I was in luck. In a few minutes, another nurse appeared and gave me a COVID-19 nasal swab test. No long stick on this test. Just a normal swab of both nostrils. It took about 10 seconds, and I was off.

But, I won’t hear from the clinic for about 10 days. I would not be a good candidate for COVID-19 contact tracing.

Call to Action