5 ms·

Everyone talks so much shit on USA car culture but our testing centers are typically a drive thru where patients are isolated in their cars thereby protecting e

Everyone talks so much shit on USA car culture but our testing centers are typically a drive thru where patients are isolated in their cars thereby protecting everyone. Patients swab themselves and then hand the sample over through a few inch opening in the window.

Avalaxy 5y ago
So many downsides to that.. how do you get tested if you dont have a car? How do you drive a car when you are very sick? How do you make sure properly do the test on themselves? Sorry, but I dont find this a good argument in favor of a car-culture at all.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  It's not a theoretical harm, either. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-07/op-ed-drive-through-walk-up-covid-19-coronavirus-testing-sites https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-07/op-ed-drive... > For each walk-up site, we looked at how many people live within a mile radius and could conceivably walk to the site. You don’t need to look at a map to know that too many people and places are left behind. If you don’t have a car but live in South Los Angeles, chances are you can find a nearby walk-up test site. But if you’re carless in East L.A., there is not a single walk-up option in your community. The entire San Fernando Valley — with a population of almost 2 million — received its first and only walk-up site, in Arleta, in late June. https://www.businessinsider.com/new-yorkers-without-a-car-are-turned-away-at-drive-thru-testing-sites-2020-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/new-yorkers-without-a-car-ar... > After trekking nearly two hours on public transit to get to the testing site in Flatbush, a neighborhood in New York's Brooklyn borough, the 30-year-old taproom manager was surprised to discover a line of cars snaking around the address instead of a line of people. McGrath, who does not own a car, approached a state trooper at the testing site to confirm his suspicions that a vehicle was required to be tested. > "I walk up to one of the state troopers and he says, 'You can't walk in, you have to have a car,'" McGrath told Business Insider, adding that it appeared as though he was not the first New Yorker to arrive at the testing site on foot.
  - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
    I have gotten so many covid tests in the past two years. Some of them are drive thru only but most don't care either way. In DTLA proper the testing centers are mostly for pedestrians.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      Consider the possibility that your experiences aren't universal. I cited specific examples of people having trouble getting tested without a car.
      - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        ceejayoz 5y ago
        Still happening to people in September 2021: https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/09/21/after-cvs-denies-bicyclist-covid-test-some-urge-test-sites-to-allow-people-without-cars-in-drive-thrus/ https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/09/21/after-cvs-denies-bic...
        0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        jeromegv 5y ago
        Services only being available for the middle class car owners is hardly something that has been dealt with in the US. But you would never recognize it if you drive your own car and never had to deal with taking public transit to live your daily life.
        0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        I literally walked by a testing center in LA two days ago that was for pedestrians but please continue making assumptions about what I know. I spent YEARS taking public transportation in Philadelphia and you know what? It sucked massive donkey balls. This is why I bought a house in the suburbs. Public transportation is for the poors (and New Yorkers I guess). Sorry not sorry.
- 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
  - chasd00 5y ago
    has the type of "swabs" changed? i don't see myself doing the tickle-your-brain type nasal swab i've had done when getting tested (only once when my wife ( a teacher ) was exposed ). My hand would just respectively refuse the order from my brain.
    - gentryb 5y ago
      There are various types of PCR tests - I suspect you are referring to a Nasopharyngeal swab - which goes from tip of the nose to base of the ear (and it much smaller than a long Q-Tip) vs a nasal swab that usually gets both nostrils and doesn't go in nearly so far. I've personally done Nasopharyngeal swabbing in a drive-thru. I will be supervising self-swabbing at a University starting tomorrow. They are very different things. One is a Q-Tip that only gets inserted into the nasal cavity. The tickle-your-brain swab is a different thing entirely. It requires training to do properly (enters approximately 90 degrees to your face) and while I learned how it feels from both sides, I can't imagine someone being asked to self-administer a Nasopharyngeal swab.
- refurb 5y ago
  You walk. That’s what they did in SF. One lane for cars, one for pedestrians.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- Moto7451 5y ago
  Having a car is not a requirement to get tested. It has made it really easy to get tested though. For what it’s worth, this isn’t our idea as a nation. Korea was doing it before us. The drive through testing really does offload a lot of stress that would otherwise be placed on physicians and pharmacies. The logistics are a huge win. Locally we’ve had unoccupied parking structures used to house the tests. Even without that you basically just need a parking lot, a couple tents, and a restroom. If you’re so sick you can’t drive you can have DoorDash or any other delivery service send you an at home test. If you’re too sick for that, you probably should call for medical services and not an antigen test. I’m in Georgia, which has not offered any support for people during the pandemic beyond what the Federal government provided, and it’s pretty easy to get a test due to the efforts of private companies. If you don’t have a car you can often walk up provided there is a sidewalk. We also have testing available in every chain pharmacy and in dedicated facilities that have sprung up in unoccupied mall space or buildings used by bank branches and fast food establishments that are vacant.
  - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
- Tostino 5y ago
  I rode my scooter through the CVS drive through for a test this weekend to get tested. It's really not an issue.
giraffe_lady 5y ago
"drunk driving may kill a lot of people, but it also helps a lot of people get to work on time, so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not,"
- refurb 5y ago
  You’re equating cars with drunk driving?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
hiyer 5y ago
In India - at least in the cities - you don't even need to step out for a Covid test. You can request a technician to come and collect your sample from the comfort of your home, and you'll get the result in a few hours or the next day at most. I'm not sure where the commenter's parents live, but if they live even in a moderate-sized city, they're being unnecessarily paranoid.
- reacharavindh 5y ago
  Thanks for bringing this up. I will check whether such a facility exists in the village where my parents live. If you’re curious, they live in Srirangam, Trichy, TamilNadu.
  - hiyer 5y ago
    > If you’re curious, they live in Srirangam, Trichy, TamilNadu Wonderful place, except for the heat :-). I've visited there (for the temples) on a few occasions.
  - cocoland2 5y ago
    A lot of testing centers / labs such as Lister or Thyrocare can do in person sample collections, such as this one below are available. Its quite easy to get a test done at home. (Mentioned of lister metropolis because they had come home for some other sample collection and mentioned of this) . You can check aggregator apps as well that provide this list. https://www.metropolisindia.com/parameter/trichy/covid-19-rt-pcr-test https://www.metropolisindia.com/parameter/trichy/covid-19-rt...
weird-eye-issue 5y ago
Here in Thailand I can walk into 7-11 and buy a rapid antigen test for $3 and go take it at home
- FabHK 5y ago
  Same in Germany.
- 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
  The testing centers are free for the most part.
  - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
    Driving to a testing center and sitting in your car could easily use $3 in gas and more of your time. 7-11 is absolutely everywhere here, you don't understand the level of convenience. I'm in my condo right now, I could go to a 7-11, come back and have my result all within 10 minutes for $3. But yeah car culture in America is great
    - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
      - cinntaile 5y ago
        4 min drive? That sounds like perfect walking distance. It's better too, when you suspect you might have covid.
        0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        cinntaile 5y ago
        That's not bad, only 22 min difference between walking and driving.
jhatax 5y ago
This isn't the typical scenario in the Bay Area where testing centers are walk-in vs. drive through. To ensure testing consistency, swabbing is done by a healthcare worker (e.g., nurse) not by the person being tested. This is my experience across 4-counties here, San Francisco city included. Net-net, COVID-testing privacy isn't a laudable consequence of the US's car culture, at least not everywhere in the US.
- yumraj 5y ago
  I know of at least 1 drive-through testing center, at the San Jose Fairgrounds. There may be more, but not sure. Though there the testers/nurse puts the swab in the nose.

Avalaxy 5y ago

So many downsides to that.. how do you get tested if you dont have a car? How do you drive a car when you are very sick? How do you make sure properly do the test on themselves? Sorry, but I dont find this a good argument in favor of a car-culture at all.

ceejayoz 5y ago
It's not a theoretical harm, either. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-07/op-ed-drive-through-walk-up-covid-19-coronavirus-testing-sites https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-07/op-ed-drive... > For each walk-up site, we looked at how many people live within a mile radius and could conceivably walk to the site. You don’t need to look at a map to know that too many people and places are left behind. If you don’t have a car but live in South Los Angeles, chances are you can find a nearby walk-up test site. But if you’re carless in East L.A., there is not a single walk-up option in your community. The entire San Fernando Valley — with a population of almost 2 million — received its first and only walk-up site, in Arleta, in late June. https://www.businessinsider.com/new-yorkers-without-a-car-are-turned-away-at-drive-thru-testing-sites-2020-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/new-yorkers-without-a-car-ar... > After trekking nearly two hours on public transit to get to the testing site in Flatbush, a neighborhood in New York's Brooklyn borough, the 30-year-old taproom manager was surprised to discover a line of cars snaking around the address instead of a line of people. McGrath, who does not own a car, approached a state trooper at the testing site to confirm his suspicions that a vehicle was required to be tested. > "I walk up to one of the state troopers and he says, 'You can't walk in, you have to have a car,'" McGrath told Business Insider, adding that it appeared as though he was not the first New Yorker to arrive at the testing site on foot.
- 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
  I have gotten so many covid tests in the past two years. Some of them are drive thru only but most don't care either way. In DTLA proper the testing centers are mostly for pedestrians.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    Consider the possibility that your experiences aren't universal. I cited specific examples of people having trouble getting tested without a car.
    - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        Still happening to people in September 2021: https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/09/21/after-cvs-denies-bicyclist-covid-test-some-urge-test-sites-to-allow-people-without-cars-in-drive-thrus/ https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/09/21/after-cvs-denies-bic...
        0x0nyandesu 5y ago
      - jeromegv 5y ago
        Services only being available for the middle class car owners is hardly something that has been dealt with in the US. But you would never recognize it if you drive your own car and never had to deal with taking public transit to live your daily life.
        0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        I literally walked by a testing center in LA two days ago that was for pedestrians but please continue making assumptions about what I know. I spent YEARS taking public transportation in Philadelphia and you know what? It sucked massive donkey balls. This is why I bought a house in the suburbs. Public transportation is for the poors (and New Yorkers I guess). Sorry not sorry.
0x0nyandesu 5y ago
- chasd00 5y ago
  has the type of "swabs" changed? i don't see myself doing the tickle-your-brain type nasal swab i've had done when getting tested (only once when my wife ( a teacher ) was exposed ). My hand would just respectively refuse the order from my brain.
  - gentryb 5y ago
    There are various types of PCR tests - I suspect you are referring to a Nasopharyngeal swab - which goes from tip of the nose to base of the ear (and it much smaller than a long Q-Tip) vs a nasal swab that usually gets both nostrils and doesn't go in nearly so far. I've personally done Nasopharyngeal swabbing in a drive-thru. I will be supervising self-swabbing at a University starting tomorrow. They are very different things. One is a Q-Tip that only gets inserted into the nasal cavity. The tickle-your-brain swab is a different thing entirely. It requires training to do properly (enters approximately 90 degrees to your face) and while I learned how it feels from both sides, I can't imagine someone being asked to self-administer a Nasopharyngeal swab.
refurb 5y ago
You walk. That’s what they did in SF. One lane for cars, one for pedestrians.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
Moto7451 5y ago
Having a car is not a requirement to get tested. It has made it really easy to get tested though. For what it’s worth, this isn’t our idea as a nation. Korea was doing it before us. The drive through testing really does offload a lot of stress that would otherwise be placed on physicians and pharmacies. The logistics are a huge win. Locally we’ve had unoccupied parking structures used to house the tests. Even without that you basically just need a parking lot, a couple tents, and a restroom. If you’re so sick you can’t drive you can have DoorDash or any other delivery service send you an at home test. If you’re too sick for that, you probably should call for medical services and not an antigen test. I’m in Georgia, which has not offered any support for people during the pandemic beyond what the Federal government provided, and it’s pretty easy to get a test due to the efforts of private companies. If you don’t have a car you can often walk up provided there is a sidewalk. We also have testing available in every chain pharmacy and in dedicated facilities that have sprung up in unoccupied mall space or buildings used by bank branches and fast food establishments that are vacant.
- 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
Tostino 5y ago
I rode my scooter through the CVS drive through for a test this weekend to get tested. It's really not an issue.

giraffe_lady 5y ago

"drunk driving may kill a lot of people, but it also helps a lot of people get to work on time, so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not,"

refurb 5y ago
You’re equating cars with drunk driving?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

hiyer 5y ago

In India - at least in the cities - you don't even need to step out for a Covid test. You can request a technician to come and collect your sample from the comfort of your home, and you'll get the result in a few hours or the next day at most. I'm not sure where the commenter's parents live, but if they live even in a moderate-sized city, they're being unnecessarily paranoid.

reacharavindh 5y ago
Thanks for bringing this up. I will check whether such a facility exists in the village where my parents live. If you’re curious, they live in Srirangam, Trichy, TamilNadu.
- hiyer 5y ago
  > If you’re curious, they live in Srirangam, Trichy, TamilNadu Wonderful place, except for the heat :-). I've visited there (for the temples) on a few occasions.
- cocoland2 5y ago
  A lot of testing centers / labs such as Lister or Thyrocare can do in person sample collections, such as this one below are available. Its quite easy to get a test done at home. (Mentioned of lister metropolis because they had come home for some other sample collection and mentioned of this) . You can check aggregator apps as well that provide this list. https://www.metropolisindia.com/parameter/trichy/covid-19-rt-pcr-test https://www.metropolisindia.com/parameter/trichy/covid-19-rt...

weird-eye-issue 5y ago

Here in Thailand I can walk into 7-11 and buy a rapid antigen test for $3 and go take it at home

FabHK 5y ago
Same in Germany.
0x0nyandesu 5y ago
The testing centers are free for the most part.
- weird-eye-issue 5y ago
  Driving to a testing center and sitting in your car could easily use $3 in gas and more of your time. 7-11 is absolutely everywhere here, you don't understand the level of convenience. I'm in my condo right now, I could go to a 7-11, come back and have my result all within 10 minutes for $3. But yeah car culture in America is great
  - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
    - cinntaile 5y ago
      4 min drive? That sounds like perfect walking distance. It's better too, when you suspect you might have covid.
      - 0x0nyandesu 5y ago
        cinntaile 5y ago
        That's not bad, only 22 min difference between walking and driving.

jhatax 5y ago

This isn't the typical scenario in the Bay Area where testing centers are walk-in vs. drive through. To ensure testing consistency, swabbing is done by a healthcare worker (e.g., nurse) not by the person being tested. This is my experience across 4-counties here, San Francisco city included. Net-net, COVID-testing privacy isn't a laudable consequence of the US's car culture, at least not everywhere in the US.

yumraj 5y ago
I know of at least 1 drive-through testing center, at the San Jose Fairgrounds. There may be more, but not sure. Though there the testers/nurse puts the swab in the nose.