I had my second COVID test today. The first was during a visit to the ER in July and to be honest it is kind of a blur, but this one I remember. Yuck!

Earlier my sister described having a COVID test as “using a q-tip to tickle your brain.” I’d say that’s fairly accurate. It doesn’t hurt, but it is darn uncomfortable. Also, it doesn’t inspire confidence when the tester takes one look at you and says, “Wow, you have the smallest nose I’ve ever seen!"

The test was because I’m having a procedure at UNC Hospital (Memorial Hospital) later this week. The testing site is in the parking lot of the hospital’s Ambulatory Surgery Center, or, as I prefer to think of it, the property where Victory Village Day Care Center was located when Zack went there to preschool.  Of course, then you had to drive down a slope into a small wooded area to the school, which was located in an old barricks left I guess from WWII. Now there is no hill and no glade and certainly no old barricks. I have trouble even picturing it in my mind when I look at the lay of the land now.

Everything was well organized. They had a route designated with parking cones through the parking lot. Each time you had to make a decision about which way to turn, there would be a parking aide standing there to ask you a few questions and tell you how to proceed based on your responses. I had an appointment, so my progress through the pipeline was swift. You stop at one tent where they give you paperwork to sign, then stop at a second tent where the nurse inserts the swab, and then you are finished.

I was exiting the parking lot within 10 min and my results — negative — showed up on my health portal within a few hours.

I’ve heard that Trump has a COVID test everyday. Maybe that is true, but if he has this test everyday, he is a lot tougher than I normally give him credit for. 

I also heard there’s a spit test in the works. Maybe that’s what it will take to get rid of this virus.

PHOTO: LITTLETON, Mass. – A medic with the Massachusetts National Guard takes a nasal swab that will be used to test for COVID-19 with a resident of the Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley, Littleton, Mass., April 3, 2020. The Massachusetts National Guard worked with the facility’s staff to administer COVID-19 tests to help prevent the spread of the virus. (Army National Guard Photo by Staff Sgt. Kenneth Tucceri) By The National Guard - https://www.flickr.com/photos/thenationalguard/49746853768/in/album-72157713483827538/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89040114