Corona Diaries: Getting Tested in the UK
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Photo by Daniel Tafjord on Unsplash
Europe is now the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re facing the most significant public health crisis for a generation. So far, there have been 35 deaths in the UK with an estimated 10,000 or more people infected. Since coming to stay a few weeks ago, my mum has been ill. A few days ago, she was up all night with a temperature, hot skin, shoulder pain, a dry cough. “It’s not your average cold,” she said. “It feels slightly alien to anything I am used to. I’ve had a persistent headache for weeks, and my tinnitus is going through the roof”. Concerned that she might have coronavirus, she called the NHS 111 helpline.
Because of her age, pre-existing health conditions (she has CLL and a heart murmur), she was told to go to A&E immediately, so my brother cancelled a couple of jobs to drive her over. When they got there at 7 am, “it was eerie, totally deserted. Just rows of empty chairs.” Not what you’d expect to see in an ordinarily busy A&E. A nurs…