COVID-19 Testing

If you have COVID-19 symptoms or health care concerns, call your health care provider. Health plans are required to cover COVID-19 tests. If you do not have a health care provider, call 2-1-1 to be connected to a County Public Health Nurse. If you have serious symptoms, like difficulty breathing, call 9-1-1. If you are unable to get a test from your health care provider the following options are available.

FREE COVID-19 testing is available through the County of San Diego. Most testing locations do not require an appointment and results generally come back in about three days.

View Testing Locations Testing Sites by Day

For children, contact your health care provider or pediatrician first. Most children can get tested through Rady Children’s Hospital; Contact your Rady pediatrician or email covidcollaborative@rchsd.org for more information. Youth and caregivers covered by Kaiser Permanente should contact their pediatrician or physician provider directly, or through www.kp.org. If you are unable to get a test for your child or youth from your health care provider, children six months and older can be tested at any County test site.

K-12 school personnel are encouraged to first contact their school or school district for testing site information.

The highest priority for the County of San Diego testing sites remains to test groups and individuals with COVID-19 infection symptoms, followed by asymptomatic people in high-risk groups or settings which include:

• High-risk symptomatic individuals
• People exposed to infected individuals in places where COVID-19 risk is high
• Healthcare workers, first responders, other social service employees, and people in other essential jobs (Includes utility workers, grocery store workers, food supply workers, and other public-facing employees including childcare and school workers)
• People considered part of vulnerable populations
• Older adults
• People with underlying medical conditions
• Caretakers of older adults or those with underlying medical conditions

For more information on appointments, walk-up testing locations, and test results, visit the County website.

Learn More

The State of California is also sponsoring other testing locations. Appointments are required.