Getting Tested for the COVID-19

Who Should Get Tested?

The NC Department of Health and Human Services recommends the following guidance on who should get tested:

  • Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19.
  • Close contacts of known positive cases, regardless of symptoms.
    • Get tested immediately if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. If you do not have symptoms, you should wait at least six days after your last known exposure to COVID-19 before you get tested.
  • Groups of some of the populations with a higher risk of exposure or a higher risk of severe disease if they become infected. People in these groups should get tested if they believe they may have been exposed to COVID-19, whether or not they have symptoms.   
    • People who live in or have regular contact with high-risk settings (e.g., long-term care facility, homeless shelter, correctional facility, migrant farmworker camp).
    • People from historically marginalized populations who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. This fact sheet provides best practices for community testing in historically marginalized populations.
    • Frontline and essential workers (grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, child care workers, construction sites, processing plants, etc.)
    • Health care workers or first responders.
    • People who are at higher risk of severe illness.
  • People who have attended protests, rallies, or other mass gatherings could have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or could have exposed others.

Most people who get COVID-19 recover without needing medical care. If you are experiencing severe, life-threatening symptoms (for example, severe difficulty breathing, altered thinking, blue lips), seek immediate medical care, or call 9-1-1.


Community Testing Events Across the State



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