Get tested for coronavirus! It's not that bad, I promise

If you still, for whatever reason, have not had a coronavirus test, I have some good news for you: it's not that bad.

Well, it's a little uncomfortable.

But it's over quickly, really.

I drove to Riverside Wednesday, June 3, to participate in a Riverside University Health System event for journalists, promoting community testing. And it turned out that county officials' invitation for me to come participate in the event couldn't have come at a better time. I'd just spent the last few days going to protests all across the region, from Hemet to Fallbrook. I hadn't been tested yet, but I'd also been carefully quarantining myself. Once the George Floyd protests erupted, however, I had little choice but to go cover them and potentially expose myself to COVID-19 in the process.

So I went to Riverside for testing. You don't have to do that by the way. There are free testing sites in Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, San Jacinto and plenty of other areas across the county.

The testing site I went to was set up in the old Sears parking lot off Arlington Avenue as a drive-thru testing location.

I pulled my car in behind the line of other journalists not knowing what to expect – was I going to have to get that long, scary-looking cotton swab stuck up my nose like I'd seen in some coverage of the testing sites?

No, it turned out; the health workers instead used the giant cotton swab to poke my throat. Not quite as bad as the nose thing, although still certainly not fun.

It did take a couple of tries for some reason, and the health worker commented on my tonsils, which was a bit awkward – apparently, they're big. I'm not sure if that's good news or not.

But just like that, it was over. Off I drove. Not so bad, eh?

I got my results back over the phone, Saturday, June 6. I'm negative, for now. But now that I know how easy and mostly painless it is to be tested, I'm sure I'll be back in a week or two to make sure I wasn't exposed to coronavirus after my test; I am still going to continue to cover protests, after all.

And my advice is to go get tested. There's no reason not to. It's totally free. It takes maybe 30 seconds. If you do have symptoms, you should be going anyway. Even if you don't, which I didn't, you'll at least get the peace of mind that comes with knowing you tested negative and are probably not spreading the coronavirus around to everyone you come in contact with.

San Diego County advised anyone seeking an appointment at a county-run site to call 211. Appointments can be made for state-run sites online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123.

San Diego County has published the following schedule for its coronavirus testing locations:

● San Diego County Credit Union Stadium, Monday to Saturday.

● Euclid Health Center in Southeastern San Diego on Saturdays.

● LGBT Community Center in Hillcrest on Mondays.

● Aquatica, Chula Vista, Monday to Friday.

● St. Anthony of Padua, National City, Each Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.

● North Coastal Live Well Health, 1701 Mission Ave., Oceanside, Monday to Friday.

● University of San Diego, Monday to Friday.

● County Fire, 1212 H Street, Ramona, June 11 and 12.

According to the county, state-run testing sites are located in Escondido, El Cajon, Chula Vista, San Ysidro and southeastern San Diego.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].