Since Mid-March I have had a slight dry cough. I took the CDC self evaluation which said “call your doctor if you feel worse”.
I realized then, and still think, that the cough could be due to a mild case of Covid-19. I originally thought it might be start of more severe symptoms, so far that hasn’t happened. I also thought then, and think now, that it could be something unrelated.
Today I got an email from Kaiser. They have their own self-evaluation. Their conclusion was different than the CDCs. (The CDC and Kaiser have different goals. Note 1.) The Kaiser computer said I should call the advice nurse. The nurse said I should talk to my doctor and scheduled a telephone appointment.
I talked to my doctor who offered me a test. I declined since they are only offering the original test, that only tests for active infection. Since my cough has been somewhat better yesterday and today, I reasoned that it might give a false impression (sort of a false negative; Note 2). We decided to wait another week and then see what happens. If I am the same we agreed I’d do some self experimentation to see if it is an allergy or a reaction to medication I’m already taking.
I feel less worried now that I’ve talked to my doctor, and am glad to hear that I could be tested now. (For a while you had to have more serious symptoms in order to be tested.)
Notes:
- CDC’s goal is public health — minimizing the number of cases and deaths therefrom of a widely spread disease. Kaiser’s goal is maximizing the health of their individual patients (while minimizing their costs).
- Being tested for a contagious disease after the infection has passed, and getting a negative result is not truly a false negative, since at the time of the test the disease organism is no longer present.