(https://thecity.nyc/2020/03/the-cost-of-not-getting-tested-for-coronavirus-a-10k-bill.html)

First Brooklyn public school teacher Erin McCarthy began experiencing potential coronavirus symptoms after returning from Italy.

Then a doctor — wearing a hazmat suit — told her she couldn't be tested because she didn't fit the criteria at the time.

But that wasn't her last shock: She recently got a bill saying her fruitless March 2 ER visit cost $10,382.96.

“And I wasn't even tested,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy is lucky: She has insurance coverage and will only have to cough up a $75 co-pay for her visit to The NYU Langone Health-Cobble Hill emergency department. Her insurance company will pay a negotiated-down rate.

“But imagine if I didn't have insurance,” McCarthy said, recounting a time when she was uninsured and wound up paying off an ambulance bill for years after she needed transport following a fall.

[...]

After the city health commissioner's order changing the protocol for testing was issued March 5, McCarthy was able to get an actual test. The results turned up negative for coronavirus.

As of Tuesday, she had yet to receive a bill for that test, which took place at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. She said the hospital did not request her insurance information, so she doesn't expect she'll be getting a bill.
[...]

I just read (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-dutch-false-sense-of-security-helped-coronavirus-spread-1.4199027?mode=amp&fbclid=IwAR1wM0WylXfZ-k4JES3XuIZcUFse97DnbzEz3HOKjeSxmrNeehyfenwLW28) this article that's specifically about the Dutch government not taking the problem seriously enough. And as it's become clear, the problem seems to be that people with mild health complaints (or even no complaints at all) think it's nothing and just go around meeting people and spreading the virus.

For a couple of days now, I'm experiencing minor health issues. A headache, a stuffy nose, a little bit of a sore throat, maybe a mild increase in body temperature (I'd check but my thermometer has an empty battery), that's it. Normally I'd just go about my business as usual with complaints like that, I wouldn't change anything about my daily routine. But right now, I don't want to take any chances. I've asked my direct supervisor and the CEO of my company if I could work from home at least until the weekend, and then see how I feel Monday. They thought it was a good idea, just to be on the safe side. So I'm posting this from my work laptop at home. I'm going outside as little as possible until I feel better, as I said normally I wouldn't let this bother me but right now things are different. Thankfully working from home is not a problem with my job. But the economy is going to be severely impacted by, among other things, the fact that people will have to stay home and self-quarantine (or be admitted to the hospital in more severe cases) whose jobs cannot be done from home.