I'm just going to put this here.

At first, Reed seemed to just have a cold. A week on, then early December, he was already feeling better when a fever hit, and a cough. His whole body started to ache. Another week went by. He thought he was on the mend until the cough became deeper, seeming to settle at the bottom of his lungs.

"It was hard to breathe," Reed says. "Even walking to the bathroom, I felt like I was running out of air. My ears hurt from it, I lost my balance at times. It started to get scary, like the worst flu I've ever had."

Reed ended up in hospital and, after a full day of testing, he says doctors told him he had a "new kind of pneumonia". Fortunately, he was fit and healthy: his life didn't appear to be in danger. Steroid inhalers helped reduce inflammation in his lungs and, more than a month after that first sniffle, Reed recovered. When he called the hospital in early January to ask more about his test results, they told him what was about to hit headlines around the world in just a matter of days – a new kind of coronavirus had been identified in humans. Reed was one of the earliest suspected cases.

That description is what led me to inquire with my insurance about getting this thing tested despite the fact that I haven't had a fever in weeks. My experience has been milder, but the time frame matches. For the record: I probably had a fever Feb24-25. As my wife had had a "cold" three days previously, I didn't check. I did check on March 1 and did not have a fever and have not had a fever since. I started to experience malaise, weakness and exhaustion Feb 24 which persisted through March 15 (today). I have had a persistent cough since March 2 or March 3, and I have had an ear infection that has responded slowly to augmentin since March 8. I have never before had an ear infection that didn't clear up within two days of augmentin. I have had a sore throat off and on since about March 1, minimal nasal symptoms, and occasional back ache and other pains since March 2 or 3. I was on a flight from Seattle to Anchorage on February 16, was constrained to a single location from February 16 to February 23, visited a museum in Anchorage on February 23, then traveled from Anchorage to Seattle on February 23. I visited one restaurant on February 24, one yoga class on February 25 and one restaurant on March 5 but have otherwise been self-quarantined. I went shopping at three stores yesterday.

My wife's clinic gained access to Quest's COVID-19 test on Wednesday, March 11. On Friday March 13 I called my insurance company to see if they would cover it. They will not. Its projected cost is $1500 minimum. They suggested I call my primary care provider. My primary care provider advised me that they will not cover COVID-19 testing unless I have fever, chills and a cough and can document exposure to a known COVID-19 positive-testing patient, but they would pass a message to my doctor. I have not heard back yet.

EDIT: My wife reminded me that our daughter was feeling shitty enough that we almost didn't send her to school on Thursday, February 13 but not so shitty that she didn't come home a bubbling bundle of energy. So.

A Snohomish County man, 35, the nation’s first coronavirus case, was admitted to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett on Jan. 20. He became ill five days after returning from a trip to Wuhan, China, and was treated in a special isolation unit devised for the Ebola outbreak five years ago. After two weeks at Providence, he was monitored at home and fully recovered.