I have not said anything about COVID in quite some time. Fortunately, our decision to meet outside during the summer and fall allowed our church to meet without issue. When the temperatures dropped, we moved back inside. Everything went well, with an occasional hiccup. We, as a family and congregation, made it through Thanksgiving with no issues. We have had an outbreak of COVID within our church family, resulting in the decision to shut down our in-person gatherings for the first three Sundays of January. We really did not know what we were dealing with at the point that we shut things down. Our COVID policy has always been to act in the safest and best interest of our church family, while continuing to do ministry through it all.
On New Year’s Eve, my wife texted me and said that she had a fever. I came home, and got both of us set up for a Rapid COVID test, which was not easy to do. In fact, we had to pay out of pocket for those tests. Both of those tests came back negative, but I had set up a PCR (3-5 day test) for my wife at the CVS one hour after the Rapid test. Although I did not like the CVS process, she got it done. For this test, you swab yourself, right or wrong, and you put the finished product into a test tube, in a Zip-loc bag into a metal container that was full of other test kits from other people. This result did not come back until Monday, but it did come back positive. Since she had a positive and a negative test, we set up another test for Tuesday, which also came back positive. By talking with a doctor, she was able to learn that timing and technique is vitally important. If you go to be tested at the moment you have symptoms, the Rapid test may show a false negative, unless the person doing the test inserts the swab way back in your nose. After her third test came back positive, the doctor advised her that I should get retested, or just quarantine with her for the remainder of her 10 days, which becomes 14 if she still has symptoms. It took two days for me to get another test, for which I went to Glen Allen, but it, too came up positive, though I have been asymptomatic. My Rapid test was administered much differently from the Rapid test that I had on New Year’s Eve. Again, it could have been timing, but it also could have been the technique of the person doing the test. By getting tested, my 10 days started yesterday.
I am telling you this because there is so much confusion out there concerning the testing. I understand a bit more about the Rapid Test and the PCR test now that we have walked through this. I have tried to let everyone that I came into contact with know that I have tested positive. One person is out of work for two weeks because of his contact with me. I am just hoping that the documentation that I sent him will allow him to be paid for these two weeks. I wear a mask every time that I enter a building. Of course, at this point, I am not going anywhere, until this 10 days is over, and that is definitely not easy for me. If the vaccine becomes available, I will take it, just as I have taken the flu shot every year since going into the Coast Guard. It is not my desire to give this virus to anyone else. I pray that what you read in this article will give you a little better understanding of the testing process and help you to realize that this virus is very contagious, and affecting people in so many different ways once positive. Concerning the CVS process, I would go there if necessary, realizing that they did reveal my wife’s first positive result. Take care and stay safe.
