Even if they can find a test, not everyone wants to know they have COVID
For some people, getting a positive coronavirus test could mean loss of income or other life disruptions. Doctors worry about growing disincentives to test and how this could prolong the pandemic.
A major public health tenet is that testing is critical for controlling viral spread, but Cristina San Martin could have found plenty of reasons not to test for COVID-19.
At-home rapid tests have been sold out, and lines at lab testing sites have wrapped around the block and booked a week in advance. As a dog washer at a grooming salon, San Martin can't afford $150 to test at an urgent-care site.
And then there's the unpleasantness of the test itself. "I actually know a couple of people who specifically do not want to get tested, even if they think they're positive, because the nasal swab hurts," says San Martin, 28, who
