Testing Information
People with COVID-19 can have a wide range of symptoms ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus and can include:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
**This list does not include all possible symptoms. **
Look for emergency warning signs* for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:
- Trouble breathing
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
- New confusion
- Inability to wake or stay awake
- Bluish lips or face
** Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you. **
Call 911 or call ahead to your local emergency facility: Notify the operator that you are seeking care for someone who has or may have COVID-19.
If you think you have been exposed to Covid-19, you should quarantine at home for 14 days after your last contact with the infected person. You should also consider getting tested. Contact your medical provider to determine testing eligibility, or follow the guidelines below based on your county of residence:
For Los Angeles County residents priority is given to people experiencing symptoms, people working or living in places such as skilled nursing facilities, group homes, residential care facilities, persons experiencing homelessness and people who were in close contact with someone with COVID-19.
Testing is also available when there is additional testing capacity if you do not have symptoms and you are an essential worker with frequent contacts with the public in these sectors: health care, emergency services, food and grocery, retail or manufacturing, public transportation, and education.
For Orange County residents, priority is given to people experiencing symptoms, then people who may be asymptomatic who work in nursing facilities, jails or homeless centers or at a worksite with an identified outbreak are prioritized next.
All Riverside County residents can receive testing with or without symptoms.
All San Bernardino County resident can receive testing with or without symptoms.
If you are sick with Covid-19 or test positive for Covid-19 and have no symptoms, you should self-isolate at home for at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared or you tested positive. Before you come into contact with anyone, make sure:
- At least 10 days have passed since symptoms appeared or the test was positive, AND
- You have not had a fever for at least 24 hours (without using fever-reducing medications), AND
- Your symptoms have improved
Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care. Follow these steps to care for yourself and to help protect other people in your home and community.
- Do not leave your home, except to get medical care.
- Get rest and stay hydrated. Take over-the-counter medicines, such as acetaminophen, to help you feel better.
- Avoid public transportation, or ridesharing.
- Separate yourself from other people in your home and if possible, use a separate bathroom. If you need to be around other people in or outside of the home, wear a cloth face covering and stay at least 6 feet away from other people.
- Keep track your symptoms and seek emergency medical care if experiencing warning signs.
- Cover your coughs and sneezes.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid sharing personal household items such as dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with other people in your home.
- Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces such as phones, remote controls, counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables.
Contact tracing is a simple, confidential process used by health departments to slow the spread of infectious diseases and outbreaks. If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, a public health worker will call you to check on your health.
- They will ask you who you’ve been in contact with and where you spent time while you were sick and may have spread COVID-19 to others. You will also be asked to stay at home and self- isolate
- They will notify contacts of their potential exposure and ask contacts to self-quarantine
- Refer contacts for testing
- Monitor contacts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19
- Connect contacts with services they might need during the self-quarantine period