
Sadly, it’s still difficult to get tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, and we’re behind on rapid testing than many other countries. Not so long ago, people could only get tested if they had documented direct contact with someone that had recently traveled to a foreign country (or if they were a celebrity). Now, however, there are too many cases for that to be the standard, but there’s still a shortage of tests, and it makes it difficult to know when people have the disease, and when they’re finally negative to COVID-19.

Dana Goldstein is a New York Times correspondent and she decided to share a lengthy Twitter thread about her experience with COVID-19, as she was a confirmed case herself. She wrote that she was able to get tested at a City MD after her primary care physician refused to test her with the explanation that they didn’t have proper PPE to treat a potential COVID-19 case. However, pregnant women are given priority for testing in some cases, and that’s how she got diagnosed.

Goldstein thought that she just had a bad cold at first, but the virus eventually landed her in bed for two weeks. Check out her Twitter thread for yourself below.


According to Goldstein, the lack of official government support for (some) sick citizens makes it difficult to contain the illness within families, as they had no masks or gloves, and it was very hard for her husband to disinfect and look after their child at the same time. There’s no way to test themselves again to see if they’re negative, which makes it unclear if they still have the virus or not. She believes that leaving people to make the decision if whether they’re already healthy or not without any medical confirmation will help spread the virus even further.

The thread, though, will help many people who’re trying to identify their own symptoms and figure out if they’re positive with COVID-19.