When I traveled to Washington D.C. to volunteer at a convention the current situation was not this bad, there were only a few cases scattered around the country, so I decided it was still safe to go. The day that the convention was supposed to start, the Board of Directors decided to cancel it due to the possibility of an outbreak. This specific convention has about 3,500 high school students from all around the country, and a few from other countries, with about 60 staff members. Since I was part of the staff, I still had to work with a few participants to answer their questions, and then we had to find some last-minute flights home to be safe.

 I arrived back on March 14., and self quarantined as best I could. Shortly after arriving back, I started to experience a cough accompanied by nasal congestion. Out of an abundance of caution, I decided to call Telescope Health, a virtual doctor’s office. The doctor that I spoke to decided it would be best to go ahead and get a COVID-19 test, just to be safe. Being young and healthy, I was at low risk, but because I had recently traveled and had a cough, it was decided that I should get tested. We didn’t hear anything back until the next day.

When we finally received the email about my appointment, I only had an hour to go to the testing site. An hour later I arrived at the Prime Osbourne Convention Center. The nurse at the entrance took my information down through a closed window, and I continued onto the testing tent. There were only a few people there, a stark contrast to what you see online. The test itself was a simple throat swab, much like a strep test. and the nurse that performed my test told me my results would come back in 5-6 days. 

After about 7 days, we finally got the email saying that my test was negative. 

With the number of new infections rising every day, The most important thing we can do is listen to the CDC guidelines. Practice social distancing, wash your hands and stay away from large gatherings.

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