COVID-19 testing per EIPH Guidelines:
If you have no symptoms, you will not be tested and there is no need for you to be tested. If you have fever with a cough or fever with shortness of breath, call your healthcare provider.
A) Advise them of the following: your symptoms, any recent travel history, and any contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19.
B) They will advise you what to do.
C) Do not show up unannounced; call ahead first.
D) If you don’t have a healthcare provider, there are many options available.
If your provider advises you to come in for a check-up, they will determine the need to run a COVID-19 test. Your healthcare provider can choose to run a COVID-19 test if:
A) You have been evaluated for other respiratory illnesses.
B) You have symptoms with a history of recent travel.
C) You have symptoms and contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19.
Visit the emergency room (ER) or call 911 only if respiratory illness is significant enough for you to need emergency care. (Think of it this way: Would you have sought ER care 5 months ago for the symptoms you are currently experiencing? If so, visit the ER.)
Another important consideration: Just like a positive flu test isn’t necessarily needed for a healthcare provider to treat flu-like symptoms (or for a person to stay home and care for themselves with medication, rest, fluid intake, avoiding others, etc.), the same is true of COVID-19. Your healthcare provider is your #1 resource for accurate, timely information. Please do not “work around” their advice. We are seeing people in our ERs wanting to be tested after a healthcare provider has already told them testing wasn’t indicated, based on their unique situation.