I'm 77 year old recently retired physician. On 8/13, i awoke with a sore throat. By 8/14 it escalated to one of the worst ever. I went to Easton, MD UrgentCare, on AM 8/15. The staff was courteous, After 90 minutes, I was evaluated. I had been vaccinated with Pfizer 8 month ago. I told the physician that I was particularly concerned about Delta breakthrough because of lower efficacy of Pfizer vaccine against delta and reports that delta had an unusual presentation of a sore throat and not a cough. He informed me that the rapid test for covid was negative but that he was sending off for the much more sensitive and accurate covid pcr test. The throat was inflamed, neck nodes swollen. Although the strep test was negative, he diagnosed strep throat and prescribed penicillin. The discharge note makes no mention of the test results nor the request for a covid pcr test. The sore throat persisted unabated on 8/15, 8/16 and 8/17, I spiked a fever of 102 on 8/16 and 8/17. On 8/17 AM, I called to find out the Covid pcr results because this sore throat was not responding to penicillin like a strep throat would. I was informed by Quest (their testing company) that they had never received a pcr request in my name. I then attempted to contact Easton UrgentCare. After going through the endless cycles of robotic number selections, I chose 3 that seemed to be connected to a live body to resolve the problem. Ten times I was informed that some would be with me soon and was then disconnected. Covid is a catch-22. To get admitted to an ER for further workup, you need a positive Covid test if you have non-life-threatening (at the time) symptoms. Easton UrgentCare set me back 5 days (next available pcr test on 8/18 and takes 2 days for results ) in trying to resolve a potentially medically significant problem because they didn't do the test. They have completely shut down normal means of communication by telephone. There is only 1 phone number.

Great place, amazing staff. I spoke with the sweetest young woman there her name was Tarra. She took time to talk to me and calm me down.

Walked in very short on breath. Staff gave immediate attention and sent me to ER in ambulance after evaluation. I was in more trouble than I realized. Thank you for that oxygen and quick diagnosis. You all saved my life. I had kidney failure. So glad you are close to my home. M finally home after one week in hospital. EMS were terrific.