COVID-19 Testing Overview

Updated Aug. 24, 2020

Find out who should get tested. Protect yourself and others. Wear a mask, wash hands often, stay 6 ft from others.

Two kinds of tests are available for COVID-19: viral tests and antibody tests.

A viral test tells you if you have a current infection.
An antibody test might tell you if you had a past infection.

Coronavirus Self-Checker

A guide to help you make decisions on when to seek testing and appropriate medical care.

Considerations for who should get tested

People who have symptoms of COVID-19
People who have had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with someone with confirmed COVID-19
People who have been asked or referred to get testing by their healthcare provider, localexternal icon or state health department

Not everyone needs to be tested. If you do get tested, you should self-quarantine/isolate at home pending test results and follow the advice of your health care provider or a public health professional.

How to get tested for current COVID-19 infection

You can visit your state or localexternal icon health department’s website to look for the latest local information on testing.
If you have symptoms of COVID-19 and want to get tested, call your healthcare provider first.

Results

find out what steps you can take to prevent the spread of COVID-19

If you test positive, know what protective steps to take to prevent others from getting sick.
If you test negative, you probably were not infected at the time your sample was collected. The test result only means that you did not have COVID-19 at the time of testing. Continue to take steps to protect yourself.

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