Alan Edwards, a 23-year-old financial analyst in St. Paul, Minn., made several visits to a nearby urgent care office. The staff there instructed him to return if his fever worsened or if he developed respiratory symptoms. After developing a cough and tightness in his chest one Saturday, he went to the emergency room, because the urgent care center was closed.

The Visit

Experiences varied. Some people were able to walk right into the waiting room, while others were told not to enter the premises without a health care worker in protective gear coming to retrieve them. One visit took just 10 minutes, but none took longer than about an hour. All patients had to review their symptoms several times with receptionists, nurses or doctors.

When Mrs. Quiros and her husband arrived at the walk-in clinic, they were met by a nurse who handed them masks and forms that asked three questions: whether they had had a fever over 100.4 in the last four days; if they had had a new rash, cough or cold-like symptoms that included runny, stuffy nose, sore throat or difficulty breathing in the last four days; and if they had been in close contact or traveled outside of the United States or Canada in the last 30 days or been exposed to someone with Covid-19. After checking in with a receptionist and making their co-payments ($30 for Mrs. Quiros and $50 for her husband), they were asked to return to their car to wait until an exam room was ready.

Rachel, who asked to be identified only by her first name, underwent a drive-through exam in Alaska. She had been told she first needed a referral from her primary care physician, but wasn’t told where to send it or what it needed to say. After trying her “darnedest” but failing to get ahold of her doctor, she went to the drive-through site. The process was straightforward, she said, and took only about 10 minutes.

“If you get out of your car, they will send you home,” she wrote in a Facebook message.

The Test

Almost all of those who spoke with The Times said that they were first given a rapid flu test, whose results come back within 15 minutes or so. When those came back negative, the medical team proceeded to administer a Covid-19 test. (Though Mr. Edwards asked for a flu test, he was told the hospital had shut down flu testing to increase its capacity for Covid-19 tests.)