Column: I Finally Caught COVID-19. Then, I Struggled To Find Non-Emergency Care.

Arlington TX

27 January, 2022

6:27 PM

Description

By Alexis Allison, Fort Worth Report January 26, 2022 The parking lot of the standalone emergency room held mercifully few cars besides my own. I idled there — young, healthy, boosted and miserably sick with COVID-19. The last seven days had passed in a blur of fever and pain. Headache. Nap. Tea. Broth. Headache. Nap. NyQuil. Tea. My throat, hydrant-red, oozed and seared. I could barely swallow, let alone think. Foggy, I mulled my options. Enter the emergency room, wait for hours, and garner a gut-wrenching bill after hearing what I already knew: That the most promising treatments for non-hospitalized patients — like Sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody infusion that works against omicron, or Paxlovid, the Pfizer pill — would be difficult if not impossible to find. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.