Jessica Chastain gained a new skill during quarantine — she’s now a “pro” at testing herself for COVID-19.
The actress, 43, is back at work filming her next movie, but before she could get to set, she had to start getting regularly tested for the new coronavirus.
“Alright, gotta get back to work, so guess who needs to get checked?” she posted on Instagram.
Chastain documented four weeks of testing — first with LetsGetChecked’s at-home test, to doing it on her own, to getting one on-set. And as Chastain shows with her pained reactions, COVID-19 nasal tests are not a pleasant experience, but they’re short — and an important way “to ensure everyone’s on-set safety.”
Her dad, a trained paramedic, administered Chastain’s first at-home test, which she has him stop when she realizes how odd it feels to have a swab stuck deeply into her nose.
“Oh my god. Oh I already hate it, wait, one second,” she said in the video. But after a deep breath, she’s good to go, and laughed through the test.
Chastain’s assistant, Arianna, took over for week two of testing, and the Molly’s Game star knew to expect the pain this time — but Arianna had a heavy hand with the swab.
“That was too much. I’m crying, that hurt. It was like, in my eyeball,” Chastain said, laughing.
By week three, though, Chastain was “doing it myself,” and calmly took the at-home test with only a few tears.
“I’m a pro now,” she said.
And on week four, Chastain was back at work and gets a quick saliva and nasal swab test. She still wasn’t a fan — but said the few seconds of pain are worth it.
“Happy to get back to work! I’ll shove a Q-tip up my nose to my brain any day to ensure everyone’s on-set safety,” she wrote. “I hate this but I love them more. 😷❤️”
COVID-19 testing in the U.S. got off to a slow start, and it took several months of the pandemic before it was available for the general public, and not just those with virus symptoms. At the height of the first outbreak in New York City, tests were in such short supply that doctors were often unable to test hospital patients who they were almost certain had the virus.
Testing improved in the last two months, but as cases soar in most of the country, many states are again running out of nasal swabs for testing or are dealing with major backups at labs, resulting in delayed results.
Along with getting back to filming, Chastain has been busy in the sports world as one of the founding investors of the newest National Women’s Soccer League team in Los Angeles. Chastain is building the team along with Natalie Portman, Serena Williams and several more actresses, investors and former women’s soccer players, including Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.
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