LA continues to struggle against COVID-19. To date, LA County has registered 294,000 cases and 7,000 deaths from COVID-19, and the county lingers in Tier 1 among 4 in its reopening plan, indicating risk of widespread community transmission of the virus. With the danger of infection still high, many Angelinos are wondering about the safest way to get tested to best keep themselves and others safe.
How is COVID-19 tested?
There are two primary ways by which COVID-19 is tested: the viral test and the antibody test. The tests can be accessed in a variety of ways, including from special COVID-19 testing locations set up by LA County, in-home do it yourself testing kits, and in-home testing with a medical professional service.
What is the viral test?
The RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests will analyze a swab of one’s nasal passages for the presence of active cases of COVID-19. This test is advisable in the event of several different scenarios. The first of which is, of course, if one has symptoms of a COVID-19 infection. These symptoms include, but are not limited to, fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, body-aches, headaches, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
One should also seek a COVID-19 viral test if they have been within 6 feet of proximity to an individual with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Note that this test will only confirm cases of COVID-19 from the time at which the swab was administered. Any interim exposure between test and result will be unaccounted.
What is the antibody test?
The antibody test is a blood draw or finger stick that looks for the presence of antibodies the body will produce in response to COVID-19. Antibodies are proteins the body creates to drive-off the virus and protect against possible, subsequent infections of the same virus. While antibodies do work against subsequent, potential infections of other diseases, it remains unknown to what extent that holds true for COVID-19.
This test will not indicate if one has a current COVID-19 infection – only if the body has successfully rid itself of a previous case.
One should continue exercising caution in protecting oneself from the virus, even after recovery from infection. It generally takes one to three weeks to create these antibodies, so the test cannot provide evidence that one does or does not have a current infection of COVID-19. Note that other coronaviruses (some of which are known as the common cold) can produce a positive result for this test; therefore, a positive antibody test is not a 100 percent guarantee of past exposure to COVID-19.
Where are the tests administered?
There are a variety of options for those seeking a COVID-19 test. Los Angeles County has opened up many testing sites to respond to its spike in its number of COVID-19 cases. Some of this spike is attributable to inconsistencies and delays in data reporting related to COVID-19 tests. On October 22nd, 3,600 cases of COVID-19 were reported. Of these, roughly 2,000 were from a backlog related to technical issues with LA County’s data reporting system.
There are over 130 different testing locations within Los Angeles County. A directory of those locations can be found here. Historically, LA County has taken days to weeks to return COVID-19 test-results to patients.
What is in-home Covid-19 testing?
Beyond taking a test at one of these community testing sites, there are services available which allow for COVID-19 tests within the home.
Private services such as those at Concierge MD LA offer fast, safe COVID-19 testing in LA in the patient’s home. They will also provide several different options for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, some of which can give results within minutes of completion of the test. These tests can detect both active and past exposure to COVID-19, providing results within 3 business days for the RT-PCR and antibody test, and within 15 minutes for the rapid antigen test.
In-home services are administered by medical professionals, offering the same quality of care as a standard testing center but in the comfort of one’s home. The convenience and safety of in-home testing, combined with fast results, are useful for those who are unable to wait a series of days to confirm or deny their possible infection of COVID-19.
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