It’s been a while since I wrote my last article, so I decided to take advantage of my latest experience to open an informational parenthesis on a topic that scares many people: the COVID-19 swab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today I experienced this so much discussed swab in first person. I went to a hospital, here in Italy, to verify the absence of contagion from coronavirus and to undergo the so much discussed swab. I can’t deny that months of chattering and words heard around it convinced me to search for any valid excuse to avoid this experience. This morning, while driving in the direction of the hospital, I was immersed in a sense of uneasiness that kept all other thoughts away from my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once in front of the hospital I explained to the nurse the reason of my visit. I carried out the usual checks, and she asked me to throw my mask away to wear a new one before allowing me to access the structure. When we were done she directs me towards the specimen collection center waiting room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the waiting room I queue at the information desk for acceptance while an elderly man was starting to raise his voice with the nurse who was serving him saying “I’m fed up! This is the third swab I do, the first two I made were positive but I’m fine, you have to proceed with my surgery! “.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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“Great!” I start thinking to myself. To reduce the probability of contracting the virus there I increased the social distances moving me to a corner very close to a window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When my turn comes, I brought all the forms for the various declarations and went back again to my corner to fill them out. Between one check and another on the paper forms, my concentration was interrupted by strange human noise that was coming out of a room. Those moans and gagging made me slower in the compilation of the forms to take time. I reviewed my answers (a couple of couple of times :D) and gave back the forms to the nurse who passed me the swab tube and shows me a door to wait for my turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a few seconds another nurse went out of the door next to the one indicated to me saying: “Who’s next?”. I absolutely didn’t have any urgency, so I ignored the request until another patient says to me: “Hey man, it’s your turn!”. Trying to take time, I turn my head to the nurse saying: “Your colleague told me to wait here, I’ll wait, you can call someone else.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n