Around the end of March, testing criteria for COVID-19 was expanded in Juneau so more people who suspect they have the virus can get test results easier. But before that, as news of the virus spread, some Alaskans scrambled to find a doctor to administer a test.
Mika Lynne Morford’s test results for COVID-19 came back negative.
But for weeks, she’s been living with the feeling that she has the virus. She was running a fever and having trouble breathing. Her doctor prescribed a machine called a nebulizer so she could fill her lungs with a soothing vapor.
Morford is a dance teacher and before the pandemic, many students would come to her home studio each week. She worried she’d unknowingly spread COVID-19 to them.
“You know, obviously I’m not teaching right now because I’m so sick,” Morford said. “But it’d be kind of nice to let our dance parents know, ‘Hey guys, we don’t have that scary virus going around.'”
In early March, Morford’s entire family fell ill. She says their symptoms seemed consistent with the coronavirus. At that time, no Juneau residents had tested positive for COVID-19. Still, Morford says she had a growing sense of dread. She wanted to be tested.
“Like, if I have this, we have to know now,” she said.
She first visited her primary care physician’s office in Juneau. But she says they told her, despite exhibiting symptoms, they couldn’t offer her a COVID-19 test. One of the criteria was having traveled and she hadn’t.
Morford met with two more doctors, including a pediatrician for her son, where she was told the same thing.
“So my husband and I spent some time brainstorming about how are we going to get me this test when three different doctors had shot it down?”
Nationally, there is a limited supply of coronavirus test kits, and that’s led to some tough conversations: When is a COVID-19 test medically necessary?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded their recommendations at the beginning of March to include patients with fevers, coughs or difficulty breathing. Still, it depends on the doctor’s judgement if a test is administered.
And states, like Alaska, have been quickly catching up — implementing mostly free drive-through testing and expanding testing criteria. Much of that happened in late March.
But for Morford, the timing didn’t line up with her illness. Around March 15, she went to Bartlett Regional Hospital’s triage tent for a COVID-19 test. She remembers coughing so hard, saliva soaked through her protective mask. She had to keep swapping it out.
She was under the impression they were going to give her the test.
“Then when they took my temperature and I didn’t have a temperature above 100, they kind of stopped,” Morford said.
She says the hospital told her they couldn’t give her the test slated for the state lab because she didn’t have a fever.
“At that point I was just like, I’m not going to leave here unless you do that test,” she said.
In the end, hospital staff took a nasal swab to be sent to a private lab in the Lower 48. It could take up to a week to find out if she had the coronavirus.
While she waited for the results, she made a video for her dancers to let them know it was going to be OK.
“But also let them know that we are very sick and I need them to listen to their parents and to not complain about being at home and practice,” Morford said.
Finally, on March 25, after much anxiety, she got an answer. She didn’t test positive for the coronavirus. It seems like a reason to celebrate, but Morford says her emotions are mixed. She’s still processing the experience. But she says she thinks medical providers were trying to do their best in a rapidly escalating situation.
Juneau now has drive-through coronavirus testing. If you feel like you’re exhibiting symptoms or you’ve been exposed to the virus, you can call 586-6000 for a free test screening.
Editor’s note: The featured image for this story has been updated.
