State Health Director Issues Temporary COVID-19 Reporting Order
Today, July 7, 2020, North Carolina State Health Director Elizabeth Tilson, MD, MPH issued a temporary order requiring physicians, laboratories and others ordering or conducting COVID-19 diagnostic tests to report negative test results in addition to the requirement to report postive results.
The reason for the order is to track diagnostic test results necessary "for surveillance of a communicable disease that presents a danger to public health."
The order is effective immediately and expires in 90 days.
Read Dr. Tilson's order.
Get more information on the method of reporting and what must be included in the report here.
Review the full statewide standing order for COVID-19 diagnostic testing here.
As outlined in the standing order document, testing sites are now authorized to receive the results of the test directly from the testing laboratory. The NC Department of Health and Human Services believes this will help reduce barriers to testing, especially for historically marginalized populations.
The Isolation and Quarantine (Spanish) guidance explains to patients what they should do while waiting for test results to come back and then once they have received the results.
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