On Saturday evening I received a blue Post-It Note. My first...

On Saturday evening I received a blue Post-It Note. My first negative. Hallelujah! One down, two more to go.I am choosing not to get too optimistic. Patients have tested negative only to be followed by another positive test. I’ll get more excited tomorrow when my second test comes out negative. I need three negatives, 24-hours apart to be released from quarantine at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. I will no longer have the coronavirus, COVID-19.Earlier in the day, we learned a patient tested positive for 37 days. That’s the longest on record. Saturday is day 29 for me. 37 is a record I don’t want to break.Earlier in the day my friend Mark Jorgensen, who is now quarantined at his home in St. George, Utah and I exchanged texts to see if either of us wanted to go for the record. We are both very competitive. Mark is a huge Seinfeld fan (who isn’t?). He sent me a clip of one of their funnier scenes that is so poignant in today’s environment. Enjoy.

The CDC still hasn’t set protocol for our second test to be flown back to their headquarters in Atlanta. It’s very frustrating.It’s particularly perplexing because if it proves the theory that while their current PCR test is effective in testing for the virus, it may be flawed as we recover.

A small percentage of us may have dead virus cells lingering in our bodies. We may no longer be contagious, yet the PCR test might not be distinguishing between dead cells and active ones.

The plan is to have our samples flown to Atlanta, placed in a petri dish and watch the cultures grow for five or six days to see if the virus is still active.The CDC’s lack of movement on implementation is frustrating for two reasons.

First, it may speed up my release if one of my next two tests turn positive again, and second, if it proves the current PCR test contradicts the Atlanta findings, it could mean the release of patients a lot sooner, relieving our already stressed medical infrastructure as the outbreak continues to expand.