TRANSCRIPT AND DESCRIPTION:

[The video starts with a Jack Williams standing in his home. He has light facial hair and is wearing a baseball hat and green hoodie. He begins by waving and then starts signing:

Hello! I want to talk about the COVID-19 test – it’s quite interesting. I got tested this morning because I had several symptoms over the last few days and was feeling extremely sick. The doctor told me I had food poisoning. Now, I’m feeling a little better than I have for several days.

At first, I was worried and tense thinking I might have it. It was an interesting process. The nurse I had been emailing back and forth with for the last 3 days told me to go to the ER immediately to get tested. I agreed to get tested, just to make sure. The nurse explained to me that any time a person shows symptoms typical for patients with COVID-19: cough, fever, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath– or symptoms of a sore throat, headache, diarrhea, exhaustion, and body pain—my symptoms consisted of body pain, diarrhea, and nausea—that person is required to get tested.

So, now I’m taking advantage and sharing my experience with this ASL video to inform the Deaf community. The COVID-19 test is so interesting. I’ve seen many posts warning people on social media about how painful this test is, it seemed scary to me. I wonder if that mean others who have these symptoms are avoiding getting tested as well. I hope not. Now that I’ve experienced the test myself, I have to say it’s remarkable.

The test itself is done using a 6 inches long wand. It reminds me of almost like a pumpkin carving knife – with a handle and then a very thin extension of clear plastic, very nonthreatening. Once they were ready to test me, they had me lay my back on the bed and very softly and slowly inserted the wand into my nostril. I felt them use the wand to make small circles in my nasal cavity—it felt like they were back near my brain– and then they removed it. It felt ticklish! All it did was make me feel like I had to sneeze – that’s it! They took the wand out, and it was over.

For anyone who is feeling sick – stay home, self-isolate. Make sure to seek medical advice. Hopefully, your doctors can email with you. I was able to and communication went smoothly. After analyzing my symptoms, they told me to go get tested. I went to get tested without any problem. I got my test done at HCMC emergency room – the testing process was nice.

As far as the turnaround time for getting my test results back, it was unclear. I did try to ask them but I didn’t have an on-site interpreter. They had a VRI interpreter there if I needed it, but I just let it go. They said they would let me know by tonight or tomorrow morning. I guess some have said they had results within 30 minutes, but that wasn’t the case for me. Mine should only take a few hours.

Wish me luck! I hope I don’t have it, but if I do, it’ll be fine. I’ll stay home, rest, and hopefully recover quickly. I hope that was helpful for people who have concerns about getting tested. So cool, right? Ok, bye!

The video end by him turning off his camera.]