As commercial labs have continued to increase their capacity for testing for the virus causing COVID-19 disease, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) Bureau of Clinical Laboratories (BCL) has refocused its testing efforts toward persons at highest risk for COVID-19 disease and potential adverse outcomes or concerns about infection control (healthcare or long term care workers) which is consistent with federal guidelines. If patients do not meet ADPH criteria and their physician wishes for them to be tested, they should be tested through 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.