Patients and Testing

COVID-19 Testing

Our COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard and COVID-19 Table provides a list of specimen collection sites. These facilities have reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) that they are collecting specimens for COVID-19. This lists and dashboard map does not reflect all collection sites in Alabama. Call the testing site for additional information before visiting or call the Alabama COVID-19 24/7 Hotline at 1-888-264-2256 for testing sites and hours of operation near you. Interpreters are available. Note: There is no medical advice provided at this telephone number.

For General Questions

For general COVID-19 questions, call 1-800-270-7268 or email covid19info@adph.state.al.us. Telephone calls are answered from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Interpreters are available. For frequently asked questions and to check your symptoms, visit the Alabama.gov COVID-19 Information Hub at covid19.alabama.gov.

Waiting For Test Results

After persons are tested for COVID-19, they should go home to self-isolate and remain there until their results are reported to them by their healthcare provider. They are not to go anywhere other than home. If a person is being tested for COVID-19 and hospitalized, they will be in isolation prescribed by the facility's Infection Control Office. The decision to discontinue home isolation precautions should be made on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with healthcare providers and ADPH.

Persons With COVID-19

If you have a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 disease (positive test result), you and your household will be quarantined and should monitor your health closely.

Here are some important resources for those with COVID-19 regarding their health:

• Prevent the spread of COVID-19 if you are sick
• 10 ways to manage respiratory symptoms at home
• Caring for someone at home

Here are additional resources for those exposed to a person with COVID-19:

• What to Do If You Are Sick
• Isolation and Quarantine Timeframes for COVID‐19
• Criteria for Return to Work for Healthcare Personnel with Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19

Testing Criteria

As commercial labs have continued to increase their capacity for testing for the virus causing COVID-19 disease, the ADPH Bureau of Clinical Laboratories (BCL) has refocused its testing efforts. Testing is focused toward persons at highest risk for COVID-19 disease, and potential adverse outcomes or concerns regarding infection control (healthcare or long-term care workers) which is consistent with federal guidelines. If a patient does not meet ADPH's criteria and their physician wishes for them to be tested, the patient's specimen should be tested by a commercial laboratory.

ADPH BCL asks that specimens submitted to the state lab follow the criteria below:

The patient is a resident (includes symptomatic and asymptomatic) of a long-term care facility and the facility has laboratory-confirmed cases in residents or staff, or are

• Hospitalized patients with symptoms
• Healthcare facility workers, workers in congregate living settings, and first responders with symptoms
• Residents in long-term care facilities or other congregate living settings, including correctional and detention facilities and shelters, with symptoms
• Persons without symptoms who have underlying medical conditions or disability placing them at a higher risk of complications, residency in a congregate housing setting such as a homeless shelter or long-term care facility, or screening of other asymptomatic individuals based on a case-by-case review and approval by the state health department or local health jurisdiction.

Providers may order testing for persons not meeting the above criteria but are asked to use a commercial or clinical laboratory with which they have an agreement.

Testing Process

If testing will be conducted at ADPH BCL, the healthcare provider collects a nasopharyngeal, nasal, or oral specimen. The specimen is then put in a viral transport medium and shipped to the State Laboratory for testing using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Assay. The average time from receipt of the specimen at the BCL to test and report results is usually between 24 to 72 hours. Test results are sent only to the healthcare provider who ordered the test. Do not call ADPH for test results.

Information regarding materials to collect the specimen, how to package the specimen properly, and how to ship the specimen to the BCL is available at Healthcare Providers (see Specimen Collection and Shipping Guidance and Specimen Packaging Instructions).

Notice: ADPH BCL Potential Delay in Testing Results

Due to the inability of the ADPH BCL to receive required testing reagents and consumables consistently, results for specimens received for COVID-19 testing beginning April 22, 2020, until further notice might not meet the published turnaround time of 24-72 hours after specimen receipt. Healthcare providers may continue to send specimens to the BCL as usual, and the BCL will send them to a private laboratory for testing as necessary. The BCL regrets this interruption in their testing services but anticipates a timely resolution.

Page last updated: May 15, 2020