The Family Practice clinics do not want to see them. "Too busy." "Next available appointment is in two weeks". "No conference room available in which to isolate these patients". Even if the patients have an appointment, the screening clerk will send them off to an Urgent Care clinic. They don't want to see them either. They pass them along to the nearest Hospital ER.
Requesting a telephone conference with the PCP or their alternate sometimes works. It is worth doing.
I have observed this process while waiting in a Family Practice clinic for a scheduled appointment (which of course was running late). The conversations can become quite strained.
The "standard of care" for patients with flu-like symptoms is to send them home with instructions to take acetaminophen and "watchful waiting". If things go really bad with pneumonia, then check into an ER.
That was exactly the response given to a cousin of mine and two colleagues from my workplace. All were eventually confirmed positive COVID-19 cases of moderate severity. Fortunately, they all recovered.
The one colleague who was hospitalized did get some kind of treatment that was more than just "take acetaminophen and make an appointment in two weeks". That included anti-coagulants which aggravated a pre-existing gastric bleed and required surgery to correct. Oops. But laparoscopic techniques are amazing and he was out the next day. His whole family got sick except for a younger son. They all recovered.
There are better responses available from the corporate medical system than the standard narrative. But you need to ask for them to get them. And you need to stay calm about it.
They tried to send my sister home, she refused and went all Granny Clampett on them. She ended up being transferred to the Covid hospital in the next county.
I'll bet.
I fully concur with the rest of your post, as well.
That said... IMO, most health pros are good, dedicated people, who care about their patients, but, they also have to stay a little "distant" (might not be the right word), manage their time well, etc., to maintain their sanity - especially now. I think a lot of what is happening is COVID is more fully exposing some real cracks in the system.
Last, might I suggest that if one does not immediately get useful response from their PCP, at least in my county it seems calling the local County Health Dept. for options might be a good idea. Obviously, counties' helpfulness and competence will vary, and hours are often limited. Calling the ER or a local clinic that maintains a 24 hour on-call doctor or nurse practitioner may be an odd hours option. However, even the best, without a complete medical history and familiarity with you, are more prone to errors in judgement.