>> WARNING- RANT AHEAD! <<
I am scheduled to go out of town for about 10 days next week to work at a big show/event. I was just informed by folks I'll be working for that I will need to be fully vaccinated (no problem) and COVID tested and send them the results 24hrs before my departure date - - or they will cancel my airline tickets. While this sounded like a reasonable, although somewhat inconvenient request, in the end, it turned into a big-friggin' pain in the ass for me.
Being self-employed, I do not carry any health insurance. But, being a military veteran, I have excellent coverage through the local VA Hospital, and, quite frankly, they have always taken very good care of me. I have no complaints about the them or the care I've gotten over the years. I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for them.
> BUT: The VA will not test me, because, in accordance with current CDC guidelines, 1) I'm not actually sick, 2) I can't prove that I've been in contact with a COVID infected person, 3) I am not flying to a foreign country or region that requires testing before entry, 4) Although I'm being tested as a condition for work, my occupation, according to CDC guidelines, does not qualify me as eligible to be tested. "Occupational Testing" is limited more or less to people working in health care & care-giving facilities, public safety, and some governmental jobs.
> So, I went online to a website that listed public and private COVID testing facilities in my area to try and find some place other than the VA that would test me. While there are many agencies listed, I came to find out that a lot of the info on the websites I checked was either flat out wrong or outdated, despite the fact that the main website I was looking at claimed it was updated two days ago. Several of those testing sites had closed or were not answering phones, and a couple of them I was able to reach actually told me "I needed to go to the VA" (Doh!)
> So, I spent the rest of the afternoon going to several local chain-store-pharmacies and was more or less told the same thing; That I did not qualify for a COVID test under CDC guidelines, and that my employers request for testing before travel was unnecessary, since I was flying domestically and for the other reasons I stated earlier. They also said that when an employer requires employee testing, than it's usually customary for the employer to pay for the services and use one of several private labs that are specifically set up for that purpose Two places flat-out refused to test me. And apparently they have that (optional) right, under current CDC guidelines since I don't meet their testing criteria. I'm told the testing restrictions are an effort to 'conserve testing resources" and keep labs from being overloaded with unnecessary tests. I did finally find a couple of pharmacies that agreed to test me, but at a cost of from $120-$160, since, according to them, what I was getting amounted to an unnecessary "vanity test" which was not covered by insurance, nor could they recover costs from the VA, who had already turned me down. Being 'self employed' also put me into a testing Twilight Zone, since, at the moment, I'm not actually employed by the people requesting the test, and they won't employ me unless I get tested. (Can you say "Catch 22? ")
> After an entire afternoon of searching, I finally found a "no questions asked" 'Community Clinic' downtown where I was able to schedule a test for before I leave. I'm going to have to go down there and stand in line for an hour or more with a bunch of drunks and drug addicts who are being treated and/or tested for God-knows-what other diseases, and where I've probably got a good chance of catching 'something' during my time there and/or having my pockets picked - - but at least I'll be COVID tested.
- - and if I don't shower or shave for a couple of days before going down there for my test, there's a good chance they won't try & charge me anything.
< End Of Rant>
FINAL WORDS:
I find it somewhat ironic and frustrating that here in San Francisco, the ultra-liberal/progressive center of the universe where they hand out free hypodermic needles, condoms, pot, ( and are actually considering distributing LSD) - - that I couldn't even get a friggin' COVID test.
I am scheduled to go out of town for about 10 days next week to work at a big show/event. I was just informed by folks I'll be working for that I will need to be fully vaccinated (no problem) and COVID tested and send them the results 24hrs before my departure date - - or they will cancel my airline tickets. While this sounded like a reasonable, although somewhat inconvenient request, in the end, it turned into a big-friggin' pain in the ass for me.
Being self-employed, I do not carry any health insurance. But, being a military veteran, I have excellent coverage through the local VA Hospital, and, quite frankly, they have always taken very good care of me. I have no complaints about the them or the care I've gotten over the years. I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for them.
> BUT: The VA will not test me, because, in accordance with current CDC guidelines, 1) I'm not actually sick, 2) I can't prove that I've been in contact with a COVID infected person, 3) I am not flying to a foreign country or region that requires testing before entry, 4) Although I'm being tested as a condition for work, my occupation, according to CDC guidelines, does not qualify me as eligible to be tested. "Occupational Testing" is limited more or less to people working in health care & care-giving facilities, public safety, and some governmental jobs.
> So, I went online to a website that listed public and private COVID testing facilities in my area to try and find some place other than the VA that would test me. While there are many agencies listed, I came to find out that a lot of the info on the websites I checked was either flat out wrong or outdated, despite the fact that the main website I was looking at claimed it was updated two days ago. Several of those testing sites had closed or were not answering phones, and a couple of them I was able to reach actually told me "I needed to go to the VA" (Doh!)
> So, I spent the rest of the afternoon going to several local chain-store-pharmacies and was more or less told the same thing; That I did not qualify for a COVID test under CDC guidelines, and that my employers request for testing before travel was unnecessary, since I was flying domestically and for the other reasons I stated earlier. They also said that when an employer requires employee testing, than it's usually customary for the employer to pay for the services and use one of several private labs that are specifically set up for that purpose Two places flat-out refused to test me. And apparently they have that (optional) right, under current CDC guidelines since I don't meet their testing criteria. I'm told the testing restrictions are an effort to 'conserve testing resources" and keep labs from being overloaded with unnecessary tests. I did finally find a couple of pharmacies that agreed to test me, but at a cost of from $120-$160, since, according to them, what I was getting amounted to an unnecessary "vanity test" which was not covered by insurance, nor could they recover costs from the VA, who had already turned me down. Being 'self employed' also put me into a testing Twilight Zone, since, at the moment, I'm not actually employed by the people requesting the test, and they won't employ me unless I get tested. (Can you say "Catch 22? ")
> After an entire afternoon of searching, I finally found a "no questions asked" 'Community Clinic' downtown where I was able to schedule a test for before I leave. I'm going to have to go down there and stand in line for an hour or more with a bunch of drunks and drug addicts who are being treated and/or tested for God-knows-what other diseases, and where I've probably got a good chance of catching 'something' during my time there and/or having my pockets picked - - but at least I'll be COVID tested.
- - and if I don't shower or shave for a couple of days before going down there for my test, there's a good chance they won't try & charge me anything.
< End Of Rant>
FINAL WORDS:
I find it somewhat ironic and frustrating that here in San Francisco, the ultra-liberal/progressive center of the universe where they hand out free hypodermic needles, condoms, pot, ( and are actually considering distributing LSD) - - that I couldn't even get a friggin' COVID test.
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