The recommended time for a child to be monitored before being deemed healthy is usually 48-72 hours. Most colds go away by then, but Whoronoavirus symptoms can last weeks. Typically, isolation is required for 14 days.
But J. J. was a baby and his mother was his food source, so Sally stayed by his side for 3 days. Ned brought her food from home or bought meals from the cafeteria and ate with her.
On the third day, a nurse came in with a long q-tip and stuck it inside J. J.'s nose, almost to the end of his throat.
Ned winced. It was hard to see your baby uncomfortable. He saw every single one of his kids get vaccinated or had minor surgeries and he still couldn't stomach their cries of discomfort.
J. J. tried to jerk his head away, but the nurse kept him still to avoid injury and the infant began to cry. Ned watched as the nurse removed the q-tip and place it in a glass tube for testing before he scooped up his whining boy.
"Tell daddy what she did." Ned said to his little one.
J. J. whimpered.
"She did? Well, it's over now."
After a few minutes, J. J. forgot what happened and laid his head on his dad's shoulder, completely relaxed.
Sally picked up her coffee.
"How long will the test be?"
"A few hours at most, but the doctor will determine whether to discharge you or not."
Ned rubbed J. J.'s back.
Sally picked up a rattle from the diaper bag and shook it in J. J.'s direction.
The baby's blue eyes widened and he took the rattle from his mother and gave it an experimental shake. The beads inside made a nice noise and it grasped his attention.
Dr. Whobert came in with a chart. "Well, he seems to be in stable condition. I'm sure that you two are itching to take him home, just be patient and we'll have the results in at least two hours. From the readings we got from the past tests, he looks fine to me. You brought him in on time. I suggest getting your other children tested."
That made Ned and Sally sigh with relief.
Sure, Dr. Whobert said it could've been a cold, but Ned and Sally insisted he got tested, just in case.
At the Doctor's
Hildegard kicked her feet as she set with her sisters outside the doctor's office.
Taking all the children to the doctor was a big event. Not only were there so many children to take to the doctor, but it was the Mayor's children. Such an event was still important.
Ned was super humble about his title and didn't want to be treated like royalty, but the citizens insisted, since he took three times more responsibility since the Speck Incident.
Which is why Doctor Whobert's office was empty and only the family was there.
Along with Ned, Sally and the children were other family members to help out.
Rose, her husband Joseph, her sister Isabelle, Ned's mother Rachel, his brother Jed, and their family friends, Martin and Lucille.
Isabelle was a chubby who, pale blue, with dark blue hair similar to Sally's hairstyle, and sky blue eyes. In her lap were two toddlers, Huggy and Heart.
Jed was Ned's twin and looked just like him, but with their father's green eyes and his hair was more messy since he lived out in the Whoville woods and was kind of a loner. He had Hope on his lap.
Rachel looked like her oldest son in old woman form. Brown hair that she wore in a bun, blue eyes and she wore a teal dress. She allowed Hedy onto her lap to play with her heart shaped amethyst necklace.
Marty and Lucy allowed some of the elementary school aged girls to play on tablets they brought with them.
"What are we even doing here?" Harley asked, annoyed.
Sally looked up from her sleeping babe in his carseat, looking at her daughter. Irritated, was the word that represented Harley ever since she turned 13, and this had been going on for a year.
"We are here because we need to get all of you tested for this virus that's ruined everything." She said.
Harley furiously typed on her phone. "This is stupid!"
"Well, unless you want to be quarantined in a room away from your family, I suggest you grin and bear it." Ned said.
Sally put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, Ned, she would love that, considering she spends all her time in her room anyway."
Rose could see where this was going, so she piped up.
"Ned, Sally, don't start. She's a young girl with hormones and needs her space. Leave her alone."
Sally wanted to tell her mother "my kid, my rules", but she really didn't want to start a fight in front of her family and friends, so she held her tongue.
What was taking so long?
The door to the examination room opened.
"Mr and Mrs. Mayor, how did you want to do this?" Nurse Whodence asked.
"Let's start with the most difficult ones, the little ones." Sally said as she and Ned got up.
In a group of 8, the youngest girls walked into the exam room. Some of them whined about not wanting to go in, and some complained about being bored or tired.
"I don't wanna get a shot, Mommy!" Huggy whined.
"We're not getting shots today, Sweetie. The lovely nurse is going to check to see if you're sick."
That made Huggy stop wiggling, but she still whined and dragged her feet.
It took a good 30 minutes before Ned and Sally came out with their youngest daughters. They looked slightly frazzled, but they looked stern.
8 down, 88 to go.
In another group of 8, the next set of slightly older girls went in. These girls were decent in going in.
Not 5 minutes after they switched girls, the youngest of the bunch were running around and acting like, well, kids. One was climbing furniture, two were fighting with a toy the doctor's office kept to entertain little ones, one was pressing buttons on the tv remote to change the channel from Explore with Dr. Theodore to random channels: a documentary about Who Island's aquatic life, a rerun of a drama sitcom, a news bulletin about Whoronoavirus.
As soon as JoJo saw this, he snatched the remote from Hailey's hand and switched the channel to an episode of Silly Willy Pals on Whosney Channel. He looked her square in the eye and said "behave".
She settled with watching the goofy cartoon characters, cross-legged on the floor. Soon, most of the girls settled down, watching the show.
JoJo wiped his forehead. Crisis averted.
It took 25 minutes for the Mayor to come out to gather the next 8.
More waiting. More restless girls. More bickering about their turn to hold Uncle Marty's tablet, more restless legs climbing over chairs, more toys being fought over.
Rachel slowly blinked her eyes. "Ladies..."
All the restless little ones looked at her.
"Is that any way to behave?"
That sent the girls over to the TV. They plopped down in front of it and watched the show.
Now you could hear the ticking of the clock, the tapping of the assistant on her keyboard in the cubby office nextdoor, and the swiping of thumbs across WhoPhone screens.
"It's my turn to play, Holly!" Hilda snapped, trying to reach for their aunt's tablet.
"Nuh uh!" Holly said back.
"Holly, I think it's Hilda's turn." Grandpa Joseph said with his deep voice.
Holly pouted and gave her sister the tablet.
"No fighting with my tablet, or I'll take it back." Lucille said.
JoJo rubbed his temple. If he ever had kids, he wanted just two or three.
It took a grueling two and a half hours, but finally, it was JoJo, Harley, Hannah, Henrietta, Hanavas, Hilary, Hera, Helen and Helena were asked to come in.
No wonder the girls that came out were restless. As JoJo sat on the sanitation paper of the puffy examination table, he watched as the doctor inserted a long q-tip into each girl's nose to the back of their throat, as the nurse held their head perfectly.
JoJo's turn.
Ned held his son's hand as the nurse inserted the q-tip swab into the right nostril. JoJo tried to keep still as the nurse pushed ever so slightly until the tip reached the back of his throat.
"Grkk!" The boy choked.
"It's okay, it's almost over." The nurse said. After 5 seconds, she removed the swab and placed it in a plastic tube to prevent spreading germs or contaminating the other swabs.
JoJo grimaced. That left a nasty taste at the back of his throat.
"Yeck!" He said.
"Alright. That's the last one. We'll send these to the lab and get mail you the results in the next 36 to 48 hours." The doctor said.
"Thank you, Doctor Whobert. We should be heading out. Our kids are getting restless." Sally said, grabbing her purse and held open the door for the oldest batch of children.