Coronavirus Testing in Sacramento
You’ve probably heard a lot about COVID-19 testing recently. If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, you will need to get tested. At One Community Health, we offer coronavirus testing in Sacramento at both of our locations. Call us to make an appointment. Read on to learn more about the different types of tests available and the steps involved.
What kinds of coronavirus tests are available?
There are currently two different test options for COVID-19—a diagnostic test and an antibody test. A diagnostic test will identify a current, active infection. An antibody test may be able to determine if you have had a past infection, though it is not always 100% accurate.
COVID-19 Diagnostic (Viral) Tests
There are two kinds of diagnostic tests:
- Molecular tests—detect genetic material from the virus. This test is usually performed by a nasal or nasopharyngeal swab, but a saliva sample can also be used in some cases. Results may be available the same day or they may take up to a week to come back.
- Antigen tests—detect specific proteins from the virus. The sample for this test is also taken by a nasal or nasopharyngeal swab. Antigen test results are often available after 15-30 minutes, however, this test isn’t as accurate as the molecular test. A negative result may need to be confirmed with another test.
COVID-19 Antibody Test
The antibody test is used to identify antibodies that your immune system produces in response to the coronavirus. Antibodies can take several days or weeks to develop after you have an infection so they are not used to diagnose COVID-19, only to point to a past infection. It is not clear yet whether or not the presence of these antibodies mean immunity to future COVID-19 infections.
Who should get tested?
Not everyone needs to be tested, but the following people should be tested:
- Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19
- Anyone who has been exposed to someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19
- Anyone who has been referred by a healthcare provider
Coronavirus Testing in Sacramento
At One Community Health, we offer COVID-19 testing. Give us a call to schedule a test as soon as possible. If you do get tested, you will need to follow the advice of your healthcare provider and quarantine at home until you receive your test results.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (3/26/2021) by Belova59 from Pixabay
