Lacey + Olympia -- Like scenes from the television news, this morning I drove my car into two different lines, windows rolled up in the 80 degree heat, and waited for COVID-19 tests. One for me, one for a family member.
Am I feeling sick? No. But one of my kids spent much of the weekend in bed with a fever. Better this morning. But that was enough to convince me to check. After all, between 50 and 81% of people who’ve tested positive for the novel coronavirus experience no symptoms. That doesn’t mean those people can’t spread the disease – they can. I wanted more information.
My own coverage and services come from Kaiser Permanente so I just logged into my handy Care Chat app and answered a few questions from a physician who gave me the thumbs up to get tested. My kid’s got different insurance than I so we zipped over to the Providence Medical Group site. No pre-approval needed.
The experiences were similar but scaled differently. We arrived at the Providence site at 10:38, and there were approximately 30 cars waiting ahead of us, split into Line 1 for people “who have been exposed or have symptoms” and Line 2 for “testing before surgery or a procedure.” The two lines were about even. We took a sanitized clipboard out of the box as directed and sat in Line 1. Every couple of minutes we turned on the engine and moved forward two or three car lengths, finally driving away at 11:27. The whole experience took 49 minutes, less than two minutes per car.
Next stop: Kaiser Permanente for my turn. We arrived at 11:39 and zipped through in only 14 minutes. But there were only five cars ahead of us so, technically, the service might have been slightly slower … at nearly three minutes per car!
I’ll update this as we learn more about testing … and results!
UPDATE -- Tuesday, July 21, 8:49 am -- my iPhone went "beep-bop", the signal that I got a message from Kaiser Permanente. It read: "SARS COV 2 RNA, TMA Value Not Detected." Whew! Good news. So fast. Just under 21 hours! And now we wait for the other result, from Providence...
UPDATE - Monday, July 27, 8:05 am -- The phone rang. It was Providence calling. Uh oh. Actually, it was good news -- My kid's test came back negative! (Too bad it took an entire week to find out.)
Providence Medical Group:
2555 Marvin Rd NE, Lacey 98516
Info: 855-776-4362
Hours for COVID-19 testing: Monday-Friday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Who qualifies: General public.
Doctors Orders Needed: No
Estimated Results Report: 7-10 days
Kaiser Permanente:
700 Lilly Road NE, Olympia 98506
Hours for COVID-19 testing: Monday-Friday 9 am - Noon or 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Who qualifies: Kaiser subscribers only.
Doctors Orders Needed: Yes
Estimated Results Report: 1-3 days
Another Source (I didn’t go there, but would have if needed.)
Sea Mar Community Health Center
3030 Limited Lane NE, Olympia 98502
Hours for COVID-19 testing: Fridays 1:00 – 4:00 pm.
Who qualifies: General public.
Doctors Orders Needed: Recommended, not required.
Estimated Results Report: unknown
Courtesy of Staff: unknown
Info: 360-491-1399
JOLT invites anyone in Thurston County with a story to tell to write it up and send it in! Up to 600 words is good, more if needed. Feel free to send photos, too. We’ll try not to edit you except for clarity.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here