Interim Guidelines for Collecting, Handling, and Testing Clinical Specimens from Persons for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): July 8, 2020

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (U.S.). Division of Viral Diseases. ; United States. Department of Homeland Security. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency‏.
• Description:
  Updated July 8, 2020
  
  Clinicians considering testing people with possible COVID-19 should work with their local and state health departments to coordinate testing through public health laboratories, or work with commercial or clinical laboratories using viral tests granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. CDC has guidance for who should be tested, but decisions about testing are at the discretion of state and local health departments and/or individual clinicians. Testing for other pathogens by the provider should be done as part of the initial evaluation, as indicated, but should not delay testing for SARS-CoV-2.
  
  Positive SARS-CoV-2 results should be reported. Read CDC’s Data and Reporting FAQ for Laboratories.
  
  Clinical laboratories should NOT attempt viral isolation from specimens collected from people suspected to have COVID-19 unless this is performed in a BSL-3 laboratory.
  
  Summary of Recent Changes -- Specimen Type and Priority -- Collecting and Handling Specimens Safely -- Handling Bulk-Packaged Sterile Swabs Properly -- General Guidelines -- Respiratory Specimens -- Storage -- Shipping -- Additional Resources.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Clinical Laboratory Techniques Containment Of Biohazards Coronavirus Infections/diagnosis COVID-19 Safety Specimen Handling
• Series:
  Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Guideline
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0b337bea4664b1ac2a64f341ebc6a4b7fda9fce4279d7fb1b5b73a150fced0189cc115f315819481951ad89b90fed1bfc2f64cf46161e3866f57f47305f19eef
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/90391/cdc_90391_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 232.90 KB ]