ERIE COUNTY (WKBW) — The Erie County Department of Health announced Tuesday updated and expanded COVID-19 testing criteria.
Any individual at risk or believed to have been exposed to COVID-19 can now be tested in Erie County. This expands on previous criteria which included any individual with symptoms of COVID-19.
ECDOH says individuals who are not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms (asymptomatic) at the time of the sample collection are not subject to the commissioner's isolation order, but should the test come back positive for COVID-19 they would then be subject to the commissioner's isolation order.
Individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are still strongly encouraged to contact their primary care physician.
To start the COVID-19 diagnostic testing process through the Erie County Department of Health, call (716) 858-2929. Foreign language interpretation is available.
"The expansion of Erie County’s criteria is possible because of the increase in testing capacity by the Erie County Public Health Lab, the New York State Department of Health, and our partners in the health care community including Kaleida Health," said ECDOH.
