My Tam Herrera repeatedly called health facilities in New York for cough and chest pain, but only knew she was positive for nCoV after 5 days of waiting.

Tim Herera, 33-year-old editor of the New York Times, today 11/3 appears symptoms of cough and chest pain. A healthy person without a history of respiratory disease, Tim thinks Covid-19 is just like an average cold and believes he can manage it completely.

But before he could know exactly whether he was infected with nCoV or not to have the appropriate treatment, Tim spent 5 days waiting uncomfortably, because the process of testing for nCoV was not effective and had a lot of confusion.

However, he finds himself lucky compared to many in the United States, who have severe symptoms or are at high risk for nCoV infection but face numerous barriers to being able to test for nCoV and find get answers to your health conditions.

In order for everyone to see more clearly about this process, Tim recounted in detail the 5 days of living in anxiety and anxiety to wait for his nCoV test.

Symptoms appear

On March 11, I woke up after a cough and felt a chill. The first thing I did was look up Google for symptoms.

I tried to deceive the thought that I was infected with nCoV and tried to think that it was all my own imagination. But after several body temperature tests that morning, I started to have a fever of 37.7 degrees Celsius.

The cough did not go away and soon after I had a fever of nearly 37.9 degrees Celsius.

After listening to some tips from my roommate, I decided to call my doctor's office. Someone answered and recorded my symptoms and told me to wait. After a while, they said I needed to contact emergency medical services to get tested.

"Can you give me an address?", I asked.

"You just need to go to Google and type" New York City emergency medical service "" is out, "the woman told me over the phone and added that I could try going to CityMD clinic because it was also there. nCoV testing service available.

I called CityMD, but they said they did not provide this testing service. I asked them to recommend another place, but CityMD did not know any location.

My roommate also helped me call the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while I tried to contact NYC Health and Hospitals, the community hospital system in New York City. After about an hour of waiting, my friend finally contacted someone at CDC. At that time, my body temperature increased to 38.7 degrees Celsius.

She switched the phone on for me to talk and the woman on the other end of the line carefully recorded each of my symptoms and information, then told me to wait. A few minutes later, she said that someone would call me back for further advice. And the most puzzling thing that day was that they advised me to call the doctor's office to ask the doctor to go to cdc.gov to find out the proper examination procedure.

When the CDC staff called back, he said that someone would come to me for a checkup every few days. But since then, I have not received any further advice from the CDC.

Meanwhile, I still tried to contact NYC Health and Hospitals. A few minutes later, someone picked up and took my personal information and symptoms. But this time, I received a specific answer, that is to isolate myself 14 days.

I hung up and thought that was it. I ordered online and was willing to quarantine for two weeks in the room with my friend and two cats. But about an hour later, NYC Health and Hospitals called back and wanted to schedule a test for me and my friend the next morning.

I still don't know why we had to get tested. We are young, healthy and only one of the people has symptoms, but not serious.

Many people may not be as fortunate as I am because I can work from home, sit back and make phone calls for hours and the office allows me to rest the next day. From the time I got the results, many of my friends, including one who also had symptoms, tried to get tested but no one succeeded.

About 50,000 Americans have been tested so far, according to estimates of the Covid-19 Tracking Project initiated by the online community. In the meantime, South Korea tests 10,000 people a day.

Test

On March 12, my roommate and I walked 40 minutes from the apartment on the Lower East Side, New York City, to the hospital, because the nurse had earlier asked us not to use public transport or taxis.

Following the instructions, we went to a special iron gate in the armpit of the hospital and called the nurse. She went out to meet us and gave each one a mask, before taking us to the waiting room, which was designated as the nCoV response area.

Up to three disinfectant hand washing bottles in a 9-seat waiting room. After more than an hour, we were taken to a hospital room, where they were disinfected after each test and used only once per hour. A doctor sitting in a separate room called us to ask about symptoms and potential for infection. After finishing the call, the female doctor in protective clothing, gloves and oxygen mask entered the room.

She said each of us had to take four samples of nasal fluid samples to test for influenza and Covid-19. I have read that when you do this test, you will feel the sample probe stick deep into your nose as if it touches your brain. But things are not so scary. Sampling is very fast, when medical staff just need to put the sample in the nose and rotate slightly.

The doctor removed the gloves and protective gown, then knocked on the door for the nurse to open from the outside. After leaving for a few minutes, the doctor called back and asked us to continue to isolate ourselves at home, only for emergency medical services if symptoms worsen.

We still wear masks when we go home and haven't left the apartment half a step since then.

Result

We are informed that results will be available after 2-3 days. But it was not until about 6pm on March 16 that my positive result for nCoV was posted online. I notify the test results to the agency and everyone who has been in contact with in the past week.

People with nCoV who have mild symptoms do not need to do much. They only need to take medicine if they have a fever and do not leave the house. However, the biggest challenge we face is the feeling of being forced to stay indoors.

But what we have experienced shows that the authorities responsible for dealing with Covid-19 in the United States are equally equally confused. A lot of people say they are trying their best but don't know what to do. Obviously the nurses, doctors and medical staff we meet are all competent, but they cannot help us to be less bewildered.

Finding accurate advice takes a lot of time and energy. For people not as fortunate as me, this process is even more tiring.

However, we have also seen improvements in testing. New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has requested to increase the nCoV test and increase the number of people tested by more than 500 from March 16 to March 17.

The State of New York has also opened its first testing center in New Rochelle and plans to open more. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on March 17 that the city will be able to test 5,000 people a day from March 19, instead of a few hundred as before.

After all, I discovered the funny fact that I was positive for nCoV on my birthday.