This morning I was supposed to have an MRI of my hip @UPMC. I was very nervous as hospitalizations and deaths have been on the rise in Allegheny County, even as cases have leveled out at ~1-200 a day (which I guess we're not just supposed to accept as normal?)

When the patient before me came out of the MRI room, I saw that he was wearing a bandana over his mouth & nose instead of a mask, and as he walked through the waiting area he let it fall off.

So, when the MRI tech came to get me, I asked her to confirm that the patient before me had worn his mask properly for the duration of his test.

She said, "no, I've been letting patients take them off because they are alone in the room"

We know that respiratory droplets with this virus can hang in the air for hours. I told the tech this. She said "we ask people before they come in if they've had any symptoms"

We know that people are the most contagious with this disease in the 3-4 days before they begin to experience symptoms. We also know that some people never experience any symptoms but can spread the disease.

So this morning, after waiting 4 WEEKS to be able to get my MRI, I was informed that I would need to lay down for an hour with my head in the EXACT SPOT that the stranger before me had - and that he'd been maskless.

I was also told, as I tried to make the tech understand how hugely NOT OK this was, that this is what she had been told by hey supervisor. Another woman there told me "patients have a right to remove their mask during their test"

To be clear: @PAHealthDept & @HealthAllegheny have MANDATED that all persons wear a mask when in public. Patients do not have a "right" to remove their masks during an MRI, and @UPMC administrators do not have a "right" to decide that they can.

I am livid. I have been completely debilitated for weeks due to an unknown issue in the hip I had surgery on several years ago. I can't walk, I can't do regular 6 everyday things like cook dinner or do laundry.. I can't sit or stand comfortably, the workday is awful.

This MRI & the chance to find out what's wrong with my hip has been my lifeline for weeks. & today I couldn't get it because @UPMC is more interested in catering to selfish assholes who can't wear a mask for a fucking hour than they are in protecting the health of their patients.