¨It made me feel the same as getting chlorine water in my nose,¨ Salli Carmichael, Shorewood resident, said. 

Some people feel the same about getting Covid tested.¨Uncomfortable¨ and ¨fast¨ are words they use to describe it.  Everyone has a different experience. Everyone is hoping for the negative results.

There are three different types of testing available now in 2021. According to the Food and Drug Administration or FDA, there are molecular and antigen tests which are diagnostic tests, and antibodies, a serological test.

Diagnostic tests tell you if the virus is active, and the serological tells you if you had it prior to getting tested. The rapid test is a Covid test that tells you your results in a few hours or sometimes even minutes. The rapid test is not as accurate as the tests that have to be taken to a lab and looked at, which you get the results in a few days or weeks. 

Elyse Odell is an MCHS graduate,who works at the Timbers of Shorewood retirement home. She gets tested every Tuesday due to her working conditions. As of Jan. 19, she has been tested 13 times. Odell’s first time getting tested was the worst. 

¨The girl who was doing the testing, it was her first time too so she didn’t know exactly what she was doing,¨ Odell said. 

After they removed the stick she cried for a few minutes. At the Timbers they put the testing swab about an inch and half into your nose. She had a headache from 30 minutes after the testing until the end of the day when she went to sleep. 

Odell says that she still has headaches after each testing. She hoped she never had to get tested again. Now they have mandatory testing every week.

Marisa Aparicio, a graduate of Plainfield South High School, also works with Odell. She has the same feelings towards getting tested but now is used to getting it done. 

¨It stung really bad at first, and now it doesn’t hurt as bad, it’s just super uncomfortable,¨ Aparicio said. 

Etta Sklar works at Alden Estates of Shorewood. Sklar gets tested twice a week at Alden. She says they put your name on a sticker with your information on it and place it on a testing tube. They put on a new pair of gloves then they take out the swab and go around just the inside tip of each nostril. They put the swab in the tube and then you’re finished. 

Rylee Mielke, junior at Joliet West High School, has been tested once. She got tested at her regular doctor’s office. 

¨I was super nervous, like I was shaking driving there,¨ Mielke said. 

She said it was uncomfortable, but was fast. In her case her nose got super dry, but nothing other than that. 

Aaron Bolton is a 21-year-old local. He went to a set up for testing that was held in Joliet some time way back in June of 2020. He filled out a paper that asked for his age, birth date, and where he lives.

The sheet also listed symptoms he would have to circle if he was experiencing them. He had gone because he had a few symptoms. It asked if he had traveled or if he had health insurance. He waited in a long line, to get to a tent where they verified his information. Then they took his blood pressure and temperature. Then lastly he got the testing. 

¨They told me to tilt my head back and they put a cotton swab in my left and right nostril, it was weird and made me tear up and cough,¨ Bolton said. 

He got his results two weeks later. With relief of a negative test result and he was able to return back to work. 

Morgan Sullivan is a junior at Joliet West. She had a bad experience with her first testing. She was nervous. When she went into the office and sat down, she couldn’t help but pull away. She flinched and grabbed the tester’s arm.

She was not purposely doing it, it was an instinct she couldn’t help but keep pushing away. She was embarrassed and had another worker hold her hands together and keep her head up to just get the swab in. 

¨It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt,¨ Sullivan said. 

Kathleen Medrano is a sales development manager at Mutual Life Insurance. Medrano had to get tested before she could have her surgery, she had an overall fine test. 

¨Well, as good as it could be while having someone put something up your nose,¨ Medrano said. 

She felt it was uncomfortable but not painful. It was a quick trip and she didn’t have to leave her car. Two days after her testing she got the negative test results.