According to the CDC, there are several criteria that a person should meet in order to be tested for COVID-19.
- Hospitalized patients who have signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in order to inform decisions related to infection control.
- Other symptomatic individuals such as, older adults and individuals with chronic medical conditions and/or an immunocompromised state that may put them at higher risk for poor outcomes (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, receiving immunosuppressive medications, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease).
- Any persons including healthcare personnel2, who within 14 days of symptom onset had close contact3with a suspect or laboratory-confirmed4COVID-19 patient, or who have a history of travel from affected geographic areas5(see below) within 14 days of their symptom onset.
Now this is also at the discretion of your local and state health departments when it comes to who requires testing since they are so limited. As of March 11th, Virginia had the capacity to test 500-600 people. We are expected to get a couple more test kits, but each kit contains about 100 COVID-19 tests.
Understanding you would probably rather be safe than sorry and get tested, you must meet certain criteria before a tests will be used.
Read more here.