Essential Worker Shoulders $1,840 Debt For Trying To Get Tested For COVID-19

Carmen Quintero works an early shift as a supervisor at a 3M distribution warehouse that ships N95 masks to a nation under siege from the coronavirus. On March 23, she had developed a severe cough, and her voice, usually quick and enthusiastic, was barely a whisper.
A human resources staff member told Quintero she needed to go home.
"They told me I couldn't come back until I was tested," said Quintero, who was also told that she would need to document that she didn't have the virus.
Her primary care doctor directed her to the nearest emergency room for testing because the practice had no coronavirus tests.
The Corona Regional Medical Center is just around the corner from her house in Corona, California. They didn't have any tests either but there a nurse tested her breathing and gave her a chest X-ray. For testing, the nurse told her to go the Riverside County's public health department. There, a public health worker gave her an 800 number to call to schedule a test. The earliest the county could test her was April 7, more than two weeks later.