Coronavirus Chronicles: Rapid results

As a condition to play sports while preventing the spread of COVID-19, all high school athletes in Utah must be tested every two weeks. After a fall in which seasons were canceled because of unchecked cases and rumors surfaced of coaches telling their players not to get tested if felt symptoms, the state clamped down by instituting this testing protocol. So far, it's worked out well -- the message is getting through to athletes that they need to be smart or risk ruining the season for their teammates, and the rate of positive tests for these students has been low.

The boys have been tested three times, including twice via the rapid testing their school is offering. This morning, they needed to go in at 6 a.m. to be tested -- in order handle about a hundred students in a couple hours (and allow them to practice after school), the school had to start early. So far, we've heard of no positive tests -- at least nothing that would cancel Michael's games this week or force a quarantine of an infected athlete's teammates.

Because I'm helping out with the scorebook on Michael's basketball games, I've been getting tested, too. The rapid tests are easy -- the swab doesn't get up into your brain like on some tests, and the results come back in 15 minutes. I got to skip the line this morning and didn't need to be there at 6 a.m. The process is efficient, and our school has been spared the big outbreaks many suburban schools have suffered.

If only the entire country could figure this out like the boys' high school and athletes throughout Utah (though we've heard some schools aren't as diligent as ours) have. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that in a few weeks, a better national plan is implemented, the states follow that plan's lead, vaccines start reaching the masses without more delays, and we can look forward to maybe a normal-ish summer. 

In the meantime, we'll continue to be careful, wear masks, and get tested. I really want to be optimistic for 2021.

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