Testing and Laboratory

Testing Information for Healthcare Providers

General Information:

Setting-Specific Guidance:

Specimen Collection:

Types of Testing and Guidance: 

Serologic Testing:

On-site Testing Requirements:

Laboratory and testing professionals who conduct diagnostic or screening testing for SARS-CoV-2 with antigen tests must comply with Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) regulations. Any laboratory or testing site that intends to report patient-specific test results must first obtain a CLIA certificate and meet all requirements to perform that test. For more information, see the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) summary of the CLIA regulations.  

Questions can be sent to CLIAlab@vdh.virginia.gov

Reporting to VDH:

Clinicians should utilize the Confidential Morbidity Portal to report suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases as soon as they are identified and point-of- care test results using the VDH Point-of-Care (POC) Portal.

Reporting requirements for providers: 

Variants:

  • For the latest information, the FDA’s SARS-CoV-2 Viral Mutations: Impact on COVID-19 Tests.
  • To see how commonly variants are being identified in the U.S. and where variant viruses are being identified, visit CDC’s COVID Data Tracker.
  • With variants continuing to evolve and the potential impacts on available therapeutics, VDH continues to update this resource to help providers stay up to date on what COVID-19 drugs are expected to be effective. (PDF) (3pp, 327kb)
  • The National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel Provides information about newer SARS-CoV-2 variants/subvariants along with their recommendations for medication use in specific clinical circumstances.

Page last updated: November 9, 2023

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