Am I a candidate for COVID-19 testing?
Editor’s note: As what we know about COVID-19 evolves, so could the information contained in this story. Find our most recent COVID-19 blog posts here, and learn the latest in COVID-19 prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 testing allows the medical community to have a better grasp on the spread of the disease throughout the country.
As testing continues to ramp up, the focus remains on people who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, have been exposed to someone with the virus and those in groups that have a higher risk of severe illness.
What’s the criteria for testing?
COVID-19 symptoms include temperature greater than 100 degrees, headache, loss of taste or smell, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and muscle aches. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, contact your doctor.
Exposure to someone with COVID-19 or someone waiting for the results of testing could also make you a candidate for testing. If you’ve been exposed to someone with COVID-19, it could take up to 14 days to see symptoms, but the average is five days.
People age 60 and older, undergoing cancer treatment, taking biologics or immunosuppressant medications, or have lung disease, heart disease, end stage kidney disease, advanced HIV or an organ transplant can receive preferential screening due to their increased risk.
How does the testing work?
Once you’ve spoken with your doctor via a telehealth appointment or your local health department via phone and you’ve been directed to seek testing, the actual test is fairly quick. A long cotton swab is inserted into the nose all the way to the back of the nose and throat to see if the virus is in the upper respiratory tract.
Depending on where the test is processed, it could take several hours or several days to receive the results. While you’re waiting, you may be directed to remain in quarantine at home to prevent exposing others.
Should you go to the emergency room?
Otherwise, start with a call to your doctor. We don’t want people who are sick to go out into the public and expose others. And, if you don’t have COVID-19, we don’t want you to be exposed. If your doctor determines you need to go to the emergency room, they may notify them in advance so they can take precautions.
Randell Wexler is a family medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and a professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
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