Everyone deserves access to free health care!

Opinion echo letter published in The Times-Independent, in Moab, Utah:

My lungs were clear, my throat felt fine, my nose was just a little runny, and I attributed achy muscles to a yoga Zoom class I had just done. I felt a little feverish, but my handy infrared thermometer said that I was actually below 98.6. I felt bolstered that I was OK because I’d been vaccinated with the first two Moderna shots.

The United States is the only major country without universal health care. 

But what niggled at me while I wondered if I was getting sick, was that I hadn’t had the fall booster. 

Yes, I had wanted it, and even pleaded for it while I took my husband to get his third jab in October. But the pharmacist at that time denied one to me because I was too young (58) and didn’t have any pre-existing conditions. Never mind that I am a primary caregiver in our household. That fact fell on deaf ears.

So, when mild flu- and cold-like symptoms continued to annoy me, I wondered where I could get a COVID-19 test in Moab, Utah. 

But then a friend urged me to contact the Moab Free Health Clinic and see if they might have the supplies and willingness to swab my nose and run the sample through their machine. (It should be noted that while the drive-through clinic is now closed at Moab Regional Hospital, one can still wait to be seen at the Urgent Care clinic, but uninsured folks could pay at least $170 for a visit (!). The health department is conducting tests by appointment, according to the MRH website.)

Within 20 minutes of stopping by the Free Clinic, I received a text confirmation: “Unfortunately, you are positive!” I also received an exposure notification verification link I could access, followed by a phone call from a contact tracing official.

Right away, I canceled our Thanksgiving plans. I reviewed where I had been the prior week (the store, the dentist). And to the best of my abilities, alerted the folks who had been in my company during that time. Within an hour my daughter got a test, as did my husband. Thankfully, both were negative.

Admittedly, I should have been wearing a mask over the past several weeks as the efficacy of my first shots wore off. But I was lazy. 

However, I do believe those initial inoculations reduced the severity of my COVID case. I lost my sense of smell six days after my first sniffle, and now I’m simply wondering how long these mild symptoms will drag on. I call myself a “high-functioning covidite.” Thankfully, the CDC this week said anyone over 18 should get the booster. I’ll get mine as soon as I can.

"As I was assembling provisions for our annual Thanksgiving brunch last week, I brushed off concerns that I might be coming down with a little bug," Sena Hauer.

My thanks goes out to the Moab Free Health Clinic for testing me! Their prompt actions likely kept me from infecting a whole bunch of other people. As we continue to hear about new variants and high case counts, people need access to easy and reliable testing facilities. Without services and without proof of infections, this pandemic might drag on for a fearfully long time.

Sena Hauer writes from Professor Valley, Utah.