Every time we check in at the Radiation Treatment Center, a Doctors’ office, or the Cancer Center we are asked the same screening questions, some are just to confirm your identification and some are COVID related. In most cases, the person asking the questions is the person who saw us less than 24 hours earlier. Although I understand the line of questioning, sometimes even the staff realizes how silly some of the questions seem when they ask them.

At Rush, at least you don’t have to ask the temperature question. Every door you walk in from the street or parking garage is equipped with the handy ‘Mr Temp’. You walk up and see your face in a mirror that has a face outline drawn on it. You then try to align your face structure with the lines at the same time trying to get the red dot to be in the center of your forehead. If your short, stand on your tiptoes; tall people become a contortionist, and the key is to be completely immobile for at least 3 seconds. Try that in front of a mirror.

Many of the questions are somewhat repetitious; Others you wonder about and some are beyond just plain obvious; If you are walking into a medical treatment facility with a daily appointment that you have been keeping for weeks, how would you answer: Have you or anyone in your household visited or received treatment in a hospital, nursing home, long-term care, or other health care facility in the past 30 days?

Then there is the question that any normal person would have to answer yes to at least once in a 5 days week: Have you or anyone in your household had any of the following symptoms: sore throat, cough, chills, body aches . . . . . . Does the fact that I played golf yesterday count in the body ache area? Fortunately, we don’t have kids in the house right now. Those families are faced with an impossible task when it comes to that question.

The fine print questions, the ones that they ask 3 ways to Sunday to see if you are trying to pull a fast one on them: 1) Have you or anyone in your household cared for an individual who is in quarantine or is a presumptive positive or has tested positive for COVID-19? 2) Do you have any reason to believe you or anyone in your household has been exposed to or acquired COVID-19? 3) To the best of your knowledge have you been in close proximity to any individual who tested positive for COVID-19?

My favorite is: Have you recently traveled internationally? At that point, the receptionist looks up at us with a smile and I usually say, ‘yea, we took the lear across the big pond last night to have a quick bite in London’

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:3