Can I get tested for COVID-19?
Coronavirus tests must be ordered by a doctor. If you feel like you may have COVID-19, it’s important to call your doctor or care facility and follow guidelines on what to do. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, the doctor will consider risk factors, such as your age, your general health, where you live and work, your travel history and your symptoms to decide whether or not to recommend COVID-19 testing.
Residents without a doctor in Maryland and Washington D.C.: Johns Hopkins Medicine is now offering COVID-19 screening, and testing if appropriate, for Maryland and Washington, D.C. citizens who do not have a doctor. If a person tests positive for COVID-19 and does not require hospitalization, we have a team of doctors who can manage their care remotely, so they can recover at home.
This screening is available at any Johns Hopkins location. For further information, call our hotline for those without primary care physicians: 443-997-9537.
Patients with a doctor’s referral: If your physician refers you for testing, your physician will contact our testing team to initiate your appointment. The testing team will then follow up with you directly to provide directions to the designated testing facility as well as other important instructions, including how to reach the testing site when you arrive at the hospital as well as items you will need to bring.
If you do not have a primary care physician, or if you are a referring physician outside of the Johns Hopkins Health System, you may call 443-997-9537 to find out about coronavirus testing referrals.
If you think you may have COVID-19:
•Call 911 if you are experiencing life-threatening symptoms. Call your provider or pediatrician if you or your child feel sick and do NOT have life-threatening symptoms. Do NOT go to a health care facility for evaluation before calling. Be prepared to answer the following questions:
•Do you have a cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches, sore throat or unexplained loss of taste or smell?
•Have you had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus? (Close contact means having been within 6 feet of that person for an extended time, or being exposed to their cough or sneeze.)
•Have you been notified by a public health official that you have potentially been exposed to COVID-19?