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WATCH: When and How to Get Tested for COVID-19

If you or one of your employees is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, share this advice for when and how to get tested.

What to do if you think you might have COVID-19

1. Stay home

If you feel sick with COVID-19 symptoms, like a fever or cough, your first order of business is to stay home. And if you live with other people, be sure to separate yourself. Stay in a quarantined room as much as possible, and keep a 6-foot distance when you do need to be near each other.

2. Call your doctor

Next, call your doctor. If you don’t have one, check your state or local health department’s website for their COVID-19 hotline, and call that. Your doctor will ask about your symptoms, and whether you’ve had contact with anyone who’s tested positive for COVID-19. Then they’ll recommend you either get tested, or don’t get tested.

If they recommend you don’t get tested, don’t panic. Testing supplies are still really limited, so the highest priority is testing people with severe symptoms and those with risky jobs, like healthcare workers.

3. Get a test (if recommended)

If your doctor does recommend you get a test, they’ll tell you where to go and how to prepare for it. The cost of testing should be free.

The COVID-19 test involves getting a swab shoved up your nose and swirled around for a few seconds. Then, unless you’re having chest pains or can’t breathe, you’re sent home to wait for the result.

While you wait, keep quarantining as if you did have COVID-19—until you know you’re in the clear.

4. Treat your symptoms

If you do test positive for COVID-19 and your case isn’t severe, your doctor will likely recommend that you keep resting, take acetaminophen, and don’t leave your house for any reason.

So why would your doctor recommend a test if there’s no treatment other than what you were already doing? Because anyone you’ve come in contact with lately is also at risk. So they’ll need to also go and get tested, and stay home so that we can keep this thing from spreading.

For more information about COVID-19, its symptoms, and how to get tested, go to cdc.gov/coronavirus.

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