coronavirus pandemic

I went for free Covid19 testing in Massachusetts. I discovered it involves planning and patience. And time.

Free Testing in High Demand

At the beginning of July Governor Charlie Baker announced that Massachusetts would be offering free Covid19 testing at eight sites from July 10th through August 14th. On July 27, Massachusetts added eight additional testing sites as part of efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. One testing site was at the hospital in the nearby town of Marlboro. Once the testing opened, an article in the local paper clued me in to some things to expect. While the test itself, using saliva, didn’t take long, the waiting in line would.

Taking a saliva test certainly appealed to me more than the nasal tests, which people didn’t describe in glowing, no sweat, terms. Quite the opposite. And the results take several days.

I found more details online on the Mass.Gov website. Then I went on the hospital’s website. I called the Covid19 information phone line for Marlboro Hospital. A cheerful woman’s voice message explained the basics and to expect a four hour wait due to the demand.

I called a testing site in Lowell that did testing by appointment. A recorded message suggested that I leave a callback number as there were at least 19 callers ahead of me. That told me that going there probably wasn’t going to work out.

Alternative Testing at a Price

I called my doctor’s office to inquire about getting a test as we were going to Maine soon. The receptionist referred me to the free clinic at the Marlboro hospital. I said it’s a four hour wait in line. She said, wait a minute. She came back and said, well, you can go to an Urgent Care Clinic. There’s one in Natick. So, no referral as I didn’t have a medical reason for getting the test.

I looked up the Urgent Care places near me and called. The test choices were 15 minute saliva, or a 5-7 day result wait. Either is $160.00. If the test was for medical reasons, they would bill my insurance company. So, time or money?

Testing Day Tests Patience

The hours for the Covid test at the hospital were 8 a.m. to noon weekdays. My husband said, what time are you getting up, 5 a.m.? No. I decided that all things considered, I’d be waiting a while, either hours before they started, or from whenever I got there. Knowing the demand, I aimed to get there before 8 a.m. Maybe I would have saved myself a little time, I’m not sure.

I arrived at the hospital perhaps about 7:40 a.m. only to be confused by a cordoned off lot with all kinds of “Covid testing closed” signs and no cars in line. A nice person in a mask came off the sidewalk to the car to speak to me. He asked if I was there for the testing then told me to go to 25 Union St. and right away as the lines had already started. I thought they must have set up a different site due to the demand. (Although I had checked the hospital website, I hadn’t seen anything about lining up at the Middle School. The phone message didn’t mention it, either. It appears they have since been edited.) Oh, well.

I arrived at 25 Union St. to discover that it was a middle school and I could see a line up of cars with some orange cones delineating some lanes. I best guessed and drove over. As I approached the end of two parallel lines, I hesitated. One line seemed to have a cone behind it. As I was stopped for a few seconds, the car behind me scooted around me and got into line. I pulled up behind them thinking, I hope I don’t lose much time because they did that. But if they affected my experience significantly, then I wouldn’t be thinking very charitable thoughts.

During the wait it developed that the couple got out of their car to stretch or walk a bit. They were in my age bracket so I was a bit surprised as I thought they would have been more polite instead of cutting ahead as they did. Sorry I am being judgmental about younger generations and their tendency to be impatient and quick to maneuver their cars. Ironically these were Prius drivers.

Waiting It Out

Due to the lack of signage, I still wasn’t sure I was in the right place. Then I saw some men with red shirts and masks like the gentlemen that I spoke to at the hospital. So I relaxed a bit. More cars came in the way I did and some seemed to head in a different direction. This parking lot had a lot of islands and various paved areas.

Sometimes a man in a red shirt would direct a driver to turn around. The “red shirts” weren’t always visible so it was hard to know what they were doing. I called the hospital’s COVID information line again, doubting myself and thinking I missed something. The recording didn’t mention going to the Middle School.

Eventually one of the men started walking along the sidewalk towards me. He stopped to talk to some of the drivers and I caught snatches of information to know I was in the right place. I thought I heard something about the red umbrella just visible over the hill as being the testing place. That didn’t seem too bad a distance. (It turned out that the umbrella was another stopping point.)

Passing the Time

Reading the local newspaper helped to pass the time. I looked up some baseball collectibles on eBay to get an idea of how to price some that I had picked up at a thrift store before the Pandemic hit. I checked the listing on Amazon for my book, Hacking Being Homebound, hoping for some more reviews. Then I started making notes for this blog and a book idea on a pad of paper.

About 45 minutes of waiting, the line of cars parallel to mine started moving. It seemed like a LOT of cars moved. In the wrong line again, I thought, but that cone had been there so I think someone moved it. (Hindsight, it could have been one of the valets.) I sat there, probably like a lot of others in my lane, wishing I had the nerve to squeeze into the line. A woman in my lane got out of her car to get a better look at what was going on. I could see that there was a cone in front of the first car in our lane.

As the minutes ticked by, here and there someone would get out of a car and stretch or walk over the slight hill to see how the line was progressing. Occasionally a woman would get a dog out of her car and take it for a walk.

Moving Along

After another wait, cars in my lane started up, so I did, too. Then more waiting. Finally we moved up, me praying that I wouldn’t be stopped while the car in front of me went on. Murderous thoughts were avoided, but I was the LAST car that they allowed to the next phase in our quest. A chatty valet, that’s what the men in red turned out to be, men from a valet service, came by to make sure we were there for the free test, and not for a “pre-procedural” test by our doctor’s order.

Cars in the lane next to me moved up until it was empty. Then the lane filled in with more cars from the lineup somewhere behind me.

The Maine Reason for Testing

The State of Maine requires that visitors self-quarantine for 14 days unless they can provide a negative test result for a COVID19 test done within 72 hours before arrival.

People who plan to stay overnight and are not residents of Maine or states exempted from quarantine requirements will be asked to sign a Certificate of Compliance indicating either that they have received a negative COVID-19 test result, that they will quarantine in Maine for 14 days, or that they have already completed their quarantine in Maine. This compliance form must be provided to check-in at all Maine lodging, campgrounds, seasonal rentals, overnight camps, and other commercial lodging, such as Airbnb. Visitors may be asked to furnish proof of the negative test result upon request. 

The valet came by again said there were more cars than the other days. The gentleman in the truck that parked next to me had both his front windows down so I could hear him say, “I think lots of people are heading to Maine like me and they need the test results before they go. I see a lot of Acadia stickers.” 

The valet said at this point it may be a two hour wait. Yikes! I think it was closing on 10 a.m. at that point. It turned out that we were in the overflow lot and would eventually be sent over to the hospital. The red umbrella near the head of the line was just for the valets. I decided to be friendly and ask the man in the truck where in Maine he was going, saying we were going there, too. He said Acadia.

We chatted for a while about Maine and our families. His wife is a nurse at a Boston hospital. They didn’t have enough PPE and she had to wear her mask for several days. He gave her some N95 masks he happened to have for some of his work. They had even discussed the possibility of her quitting, but he said they have college loans for their three kids to pay off and retirement will be far off. He did say one of his children is employed a company that has been working on an answer to what can cure or control COVID19. That would be a big payback to her Mom and Dad if she helped create a vaccine or medicine for it.

And the wait went on…

After about 15 minutes of discussion, I went back to my pad of paper and started jotting down notes for this blog post. Some notes were about what it was like waiting in line. I also used my phone to browse on Etsy for face masks as we could use some new ones and I prefer handmade cloth ones.

Thank heavens it was a much cooler day and I could enjoy a fresh breeze through the open windows. The previous two days were in the nineties so I’m sure people would have had their cars on for air conditioning for the hours of waiting. I took small sips from the bottle of water that I brought with me but stopped as the line moved up more. There’s no eating, drinking, smoking, or gum chewing 30 minutes prior to providing the saliva sample.

Turning A Corner

About 10:45 my lane started up, the valet walked down the line and put a ticket under my windshield wiper and I moved up. Then a valet stopped the Prius and apologized to the driver and me, saying it was going to be a few more minutes.

At 10:52, we received the go-ahead to go to the hospital, which was barely a mile up the street. Whew! We were directed into the area which had been closed off when I was there earlier.

Almost immediately after parking my car, a gowned and masked woman handed me a bag with a plastic vial and instruction page. She said please spit saliva up to the 5ml line, cap it, and put it in the bag and someone will be back around soon. That was about 10:58. I thought this will take no time. Huh! Even though I thought I had plenty of spit, it sure didn’t add up fast. I noticed the drivers on either side of me spitting, lightly capping, eyeballing the level, and spitting again, repeating for several minutes. It took about eight minutes for me to get to the line and a little beyond. I capped it, bagged it, and waited.

Progress

A couple of drivers around me were having their ID’s checked and they received a placard on their car. A friendly guy came by and asked me who the Marine was, as I have a Marine decal in honor of my son’s service. We chatted as he said his Dad was a Marine and he respects what they do. He said I would be taken care of soon.

Another gowned and masked woman gave me a form to fill out. She said wave me down when you are finished. It basically asked for my address, phone number, make and model and color of the car and if I had any of a list of symptoms. I waved and she came back and took a picture. A few minutes later the friendly guy said I could back up and drive over the lane for window number 1. When it was free, I was to get out of my car with my sample, my I.D. and my paperwork. This was about 11:30.

Almost There

“Be still my heart.” The Prius was still parked and I was on the move. I headed for Lane 1 which was only a few car lengths away. There I found that there was only one car ahead of me and the driver was at the window, handing in his sample.

Once he drove off, I was in business. Mask on, license, bagged tube, and paper in hand, I was soon at the window. The efficient woman at the window took my I.D. as she told me to take the tube out of the plastic bag. She cross-referenced my I.D. with the information she had in the computer from the form I had filled out. She had me hold up the tube as she made a label for it. Once the label was on, I put the tube into a different plastic bag with a biohazard symbol on it. She told me to throw the first bag into the trash barrel by the window. She then said take your I.D., you are all set.

All Done

I was a little stunned. The man in front of me had taken longer for some reason. Anyway, I almost skipped back to the car. As I drove out of the parking lot, it was about 11:37. So, yes, almost four hours for the testing process. I did wonder how the people after me fared as the testing was supposed to be only until noon.

The next day at 1:39 p.m., I received a voicemail from the COVID Call Center saying they had my results and were emailing them to my email address. My results were negative. A relief that I didn’t have the virus and that I could go to Maine and not have to quarantine. Still, my mask was always in place when in public and I kept my distance when encountering anyone.

Better six feet apart, than six feet under.

Know Before You Go For COVID 19 Testing

Go online to get as much information as you can about the testing and testing site. Some places offer the saliva test, which has a much quicker turnaround time than the nasal test.

Double check on where to line up. Maybe do a dry run. I lost time as the hospital had instituted an overflow parking setup and I wasn’t familiar with the area.

Eat and drink sparingly ahead of time as it may be a long wait. Bring water in case of thirst. Bring something to do while waiting.

Be sure to have your I.D. and charged cell phone.

This is the information the Marlboro Hospital website provided:

Individuals do not require a physician’s order or to have symptoms in to be tested.

Registration is done via phone so individuals who want to be tested must come with a mobile phone. A valid ID is required in order to be tested.

This is a saliva test, the individual being tested must be able to provide 3 mL of saliva into a test tube, which will be given to after you register on-site.

No age restriction other than must be able to provide a saliva sample into the test tube.

No eating, drinking, smoking, gum chewing, brushing teeth or using mouthwash 30 minutes prior to providing the sample.  If you have, you will have to leave and return.

For patients that are coming to Marlborough Hospital for pre-procedural testing or sent by their physician with an order for Covid-19 testing, the patient’s insurance company will be billed. Note: If you had a physician’s order you could make arrangements to go into the hospital and not wait in line.

Good Luck and Stay Safe!

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Did you have a test? What was your experience like? Please add your comments.