1/ Further thoughts on parish and school openings. Hold on tight.

A call came yesterday from an @archchicago parish school I won't name to say our daughter was exposed to COVID last Tuesday. A teacher supervising them didn't #wearamask & tested positive days later.

2/ In the last 8 days we had seen who knows how many ppl, incl my parents who are in multiple risk categories.

Naturally I left work immediately upon hearing. It was too late to get tested at 4 yesterday. We went today.

3/ Now, I want to say the practitioners we eventually saw couldn't have been better, esp considering they were operating through car windows on asphalt in 93-degree heat. But, the rest?

We arrived at 8:04a to join a line snaking from the door around the lot & down the street.

4/ A half hour later we signed in & were sent to our car. We heard they began to turn ppl away at abt 9 & this is typical: they reach their daily volume limit quickly.

We completed insurance & other info 4 times on an app that was very slow & crashed on my wife.

5/ Then the waiting in the car without any communication or much info at all.

It wasn't the only time we called in, but I will tell you what happened on a 12ish phone exchange.

If you miss when they call, you lose your place. So I asked if there would be enough time to go home.

6/ I told them after 4hrs we had full bladders & empty bellies, and it would take an hour roundtrip.

They said, "You could go to the gas station across the street."

"We are here for COVID exposure and you're sending us from your medical office to a public place?"

{crickets}

7/ 2.5hrs later, all done, 4 negative tests at 2:25p. 6.5 hours waiting in the lot.

Happy ending. But some thoughts.

1. After 5mos it is inexcusable this is what our testing capacity looks like. The misery of it is a disincentive to be tested, its own public health problem.

8/

2. Even w/better capacity, systems need more thought. Line up & sign up, fine. But give a 2hr window. Waiting all day like that w/o food, etc. is awful.

3. The medical history phase of intake was incredibly inefficient, a reminder we need universal digitalization.

9/ But finally,

4. We got an email while we were waiting from the same @archchicago parish where our daughter was exposed by a careless staff member, inviting us back for Sunday Mass this weekend.

Hard pass. Folks, we are not ready.

10/ One teacher who didn't know she was sick and for whatever reason didn't follow the rules made this happen.

That is ALL it takes.

Churches, schools, universities...we are NOT the people who are ready for this.
/END/