Where & How To Get Tested for Coronavirus COVID-19 In NYC?‍

Published in

Healthcare Collective

6 min readMar 11, 2020

In this guide, we will help you learn when, where, and how to get tested for Coronavirus in New York City and nearby areas if neccessary.

Quick digest

Symptoms can be mild, always screen yourself first.
Test must be ordered by a medical doctor, if determined medically necessary.
Selected urgent care and walk-in clinics are able to collect speciments for testing.
ER may not be the best place to go due to high concentration of sick people during Coronavirus outbreak.
‍Keep calm, practice self-quarantine.

Screen Yourself Periodically By Asking These Four Questions

Have you traveled to any of these high-risk areas with confirmed cases ( updated March 08, 2020)?

China
South Korea
Italy
Iran
International conveyance (the Diamond Princess)

2. Have you or anyone you know come into close contact with a confirmed Corona COVID-19 individual?

3. Do you have any of the symptoms below?

Fever (77–98% of cases)
Cough (46–85% of cases)
Fatigue (11–52% of cases)
Shortness of breath (3–33% of cases)

4. Are you older than 60 years of age?

‍If You Answer Yes To One Or More Questions, You Have A Higher Chance Of Contracting Coronavirus COVID-19

You might want to take the following steps to contain the spread:

Quarantine yourself, minimize exposure with other humans. Self-quarantine and self-isolation are different. The first is for those who have exposure to individuals with confirmed Coronavirus diagnoses. The second is for those with confirmed positive test results. There are three basic principles to self-quarantine: separation, hygiene, and monitoring.

Wear a mask, this is a respiratory illness and it is very contagious. According to the World Health Organization, wearing a mask is only effective if you also wash your hands frequently. While the surgical mask (N95), is the most protective measure; it is in high demand for health workers. The CDC specifically does not recommend the use of N95 mask for the public, it is advisable that you use other forms of mask to protect others.

Contact your state and local public health officials (Department of Health) immediately. Across the country, there are hotlines set up for Coronavirus. There are limited Human Resources, however, to answer high-volume calls at peak hours. If you have questions, it is generally better to consult with CDC website or the NY Department of Health FAQ website.

Avoid scam! Currently, there are various scams related to Coronavirus treatment, contact the Food and Drug Administration if you are contacted by anyone who claims there is a cure

Phone numbers for Departments of Health by County — when in doubt call 311

‍Get Samples Collected For Testing By A Medical Provider

If you answer yes to one or more questions above, the clinical and exposure history will be used to determine if the patient meets CDC’s patient under investigation (PUI) criteria for COVID-19 testing. If you are healthy and have no exposure history, there is no guarantee you will qualify to be tested.

Urgent care clinics: these facilities are often staffed with both a medical doctor and a mid-level provider. Selected clinics may be able to collect samples for Coronavirus COV-19 testing if you qualify
CVS Minute Clinics: at this time, there is not a point-of-care test available for COVID-19.
Emegency room: only visit the ER if you have severe symptoms. Because there will be a high concentration of sick people, you will have a high risk of cross contagion.
Commercial labs like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp may be able to carry out COVID-19 testing in the future but you are not able to get tested at this point by going directly to those facilities.

Not all Corona COVID-19 patients show the same symptoms, some could experience very mild symptoms during the incubation period. Even during the onset (peak), people with compromised immune system and elders could feel sicker compared to young healthy adults.

Because there are only a limited number of government-approved public health laboratories (these are very specialized labs) to test for Coronavirus COVID-19 at this point in NY, mostly supervised by the NY Department of Health, you must see a health care provider to determine if the test is needed.

According to the Atlantic, the highest testing capacity lab is located in California, is able to test up to 7,400 cases a day. But that is still small compared to the demand that comes with new cases each day and limited test kits on the market.

Don’t have insurance or have a high-deductible? Click here

What To Expect When Getting Tested For Coronavirus COVID-19?‍

If determined as a patient under investigation (PUI), a medical doctor will order:

Two nose swabs(this could feel quite uncomfortable as it reaches deep into your nasal cavity)
One throat swab
One lower respiratory specimen: you will be asked to rinse your mouth with water and then expectorate deep cough sputum directly into a sterile, leak-proof, screw-cap sputum collection cup or sterile dry container

After getting the specimens, the clinic will send them to a Public Health Lab approved by the government to test for Coronavirus COVID-19. Currently, only 40 Public Health Labs in the U.S. are authorized by the CDC to test for Coronavirus COVID-19.

Testing for Coronavirus COVID19 includes a throat swab, two nose swaps, and a sputum sample

As of March 6, New York’s Department of Health Wadsworth Center in Albany for testing is the first state lab in the country to begin testing for coronavirus with its own test developed on-site. In NYC, the nearest Public Health Laboratory in the NYC area is located on the campus of Bellevue Hospital Center in Kips Bay.

‍How Long Will It Take To Get The Results?

Once the specimen reach the lab, they are then put through a four-step process that takes three to five hours to reveal if a patient has coronavirus.

Due to high demand, there may be some delays in the turnaround time but it should not take longer than 24 hours at this point. Your provider will be immediately notified of the positive result.

What To Do In The Meantime?‍

Take your temperature twice a day.
Check for symptoms — cough or shortness of breath.
Stay at home and remain out of public places. Do not go to school or work.
If you have fever or symptoms, call the NYC Health Department at 347–396–7990.
You need to do this for 14 days since the day you left the CDC designated country that requires home self-monitoring, even if you spent time in another country before entering the U.S.

Keep calm, take the steps below to make sure you are not infecting others as well as staying on top of your health: