COVID-19 tests are available in academic, private commercial, and academic labs. They also are available at home. UC Davis Health has greatly developed our testing on-site capabilities by developing and validating our own בדיקת קורונה.

The most precise COVID-19 test, a molecular PCR test involves inserting a 6-inch long swab (like a long Q-tip) into the gap between the mouth and nose (nasopharyngeal swab) for 15 seconds before rotating it repeatedly. To ensure that enough material is collected, the swabbing process is repeated on the other side of the nose. The swab is then inserted into a container before being sent to a lab to test.

Here's more info from UC Davis Health about מעבדות קורונה types, who ought to be tested and the reasons why testing is important to stop the spread of this disease.

Should I get checked for COVID-19?

Your doctor can best advise you about the need to test for COVID-19. Testing is encouraged if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have had contact with people who have tested positive for the virus.

Health experts warn that בדיקות קורונה PCR only tell you what your staus number is for this exact moment in time. It is possible that you are infected with the virus just a few hours prior to testing, but you haven't yet reached the level which COVID-19 can detect.

A standing committee of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released a new rapid consultation with experts. It covers four topics that are related to coronavirus diagnostic tests. The topics include the benefits and drawbacks of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing as well as the current status of point of care tests; the strategies and considerations regarding certain kinds and sequences of tests; and the next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing. This expert consultation is quick and is not a look at antibody tests.

Diagnostic tests will continue to be crucial to guide COVID-19 treatment and disease surveillance. It will also aid to track contacts and plan for reopening schools as well as the economy. In the near future, at least 30 million tests are required to be conducted every week to rapidly identify individuals and their contacts, while the screening of patients with symptoms could require up to 14 million tests per day, the rapid expert consultation says.

At present, RTPCR tests that require central labs are the best way to detect the presence of an infective virus. However, this could alter as more information becomes available for antigen-based diagnostics as well as other methods of testing that are extremely sensitive.

The rapid expert consultation says that there are trade-offs between RT-PCR tests versus rapid point-of care (POC) tests. These tests are employed frequently to identify patients who are not symptomatic. POC tests may have lower sensitivity and specificity. They often need to be repeated several times every week for each individual to detect and identify cases to limit prevalence in certain environments, such as college campuses. The expert consultation is quick and concise. It states that as of now, there are few procedures and measures of compliance that are in place to report rapid POC results to public health authorities particularly when tests are conducted by the university or employer. There is a chance that the number and location of those infected may not be recorded, and transmission may continue unassisted.

The expert consultation is also rapid and determines the situations where split-pool testing (testing pools of samples and then splitting the pool and testing again) as well as wastewater surveillance (a method of testing wastewater containing human waste in order to detect symptomatic and asymptomatic people) may offer advantages over individual diagnostic testing methods. It also explores NGS as a test that is highly specific and sensitive. Certain companies might be able to test 10,000 samples simultaneously with a turnaround of between 24 and 48 hours. It is not clear whether NGS tests will face the same transport, processing and reporting problems as RT-PCR tests.