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

A call came yesterday from an @archchicago parish school I won& #39;t name to say our daughter was exposed to COVID last Tuesday. A teacher supervising them didn& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;t know she was sick and for whatever reason didn& #39;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/
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