Search
Close this search box.

Expanded Testing For COVID-19 In Georgia

Revised Testing Criteria and Increased Number of Test Sites

Atlanta – The Georgia Department of Public Health(DPH) is increasing the number of specimen collection sites statewide for COVID-19 testing, and is revising the current testing criteria to accommodate more testing of Georgia residents.

Effective immediately, all symptomatic individuals will be eligible for COVID-19 testing. Health care workers, first responders, law enforcement and long-term care facility residents and staff will still be prioritized for testing regardless of whether they are or are not symptomatic.

Referrals are still required, however, there are now two ways to be referred to a DPH specimen collection site:

Local Health Department

Individuals who meet COVID-19 testing criteria may now be referred to DPH specimen collection sites by contacting their local health department. They will be screened by appropriate health department staff and referred to the closest, most convenient specimen collection site.

Contact information for local health departments can be found on the DPH homepage at https://dph.georgia.gov/, under COVID-19 in Georgia.

Health Care Provider Referral

Health care providers and/or physicians can and should continue to refer patients for COVID-19 testing.

People should not arrive unannounced or without a scheduled appointment at a specimen collection site, hospital, emergency room or other health care facility. Only individuals who have been evaluated by public health or a health care provider and assigned a PUI # number will be referred to these drive-thru sites.

Together we can stop further spread of COVID-19 in our state and save lives.

Stay home – the Governor has issued a shelter-in-place Executive Order that should be observed by all residents and visitors.

Practice social distancing – keep at least 6 feet between yourself and other people.

Wash your hands – use soap and water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (60% alcohol) if soap and water aren’t readily available.

Wear a mask – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the use of face masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19, especially where socials distancing is difficult to maintain (grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.), and especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

For more information about COVID-19 https://dph.georgia.gov/novelcoronavirus or https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

For updates on the COVID-19 situation as it develops, follow @GaDPH, @GeorgiaEMA, and @GovKemp on Twitter and @GaDPH, @GEMA.OHS, and @GovKemp on Facebook.

SERVICE ALERT:

Due to unplanned maintenance,
our Clifton Springs Health Center will be on CLOSED on Monday, November 4, 2024.

Our East DeKalb, T. O. Vinson and North DeKalb
Health Centers remain open to serve you.

We apologize for any inconvenience and
appreciate your understanding. 

SERVICE ALERT:

Due to unexpected maintenance, our Clifton Springs Health Center will be closing early today at 2:30 p.m.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Thank you!

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on October 13, 2025, in observance of the state holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on September 1, 2025, in observance of Labor Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, July 4, 2025, in observance of Independence Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, June 19, 2025, in observance of Juneteenth.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, May 26, 2025, in observance of Memorial Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed April 18, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed January 20, 2025, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Birthday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed on January 1, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

AIR QUALITY UPDATE 

Current weather models show that winds will begin to shift
from the east to the west after sunset on Wednesday.

Smoke from the BioLab facility fire in Rockdale County is predicted to settle towards the ground as it moves toward Atlanta. There is a high likelihood that people across Metro Atlanta will wake up on Thursday morning seeing haze and smelling chlorine.

For more information about health precautions, click here.

last updated 10/2/2024 at 5:45 p.m.

Warning SERVICE ALERT UPDATE Warning

DeKalb Public Health will resume normal operations
for all health centers and services at 8:15 a.m.,
on Monday, September 30.

SERVICE ALERT 

Due to today’s worldwide cybersecurity outage, some services have been impacted.

  • You may experience delays reaching our Call Center, which handles health center appointments.
  • WIC benefit issuance is unavailable at this time. However, eWIC cards can still be used at authorized WIC vendors.


This outage has not only affected DeKalb Public Health, but other government and business services, in Georgia, throughout the nation and internationally.

We apologize for the inconvenience and greatly appreciate your patience, as we work with our partners to fully restore systems.

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Tuesday December 24 and Wednesday, December 25th, in observance of the holiday. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on November 28-29th, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Monday, November 11th, in observance of the Veterans Day holiday.

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Monday, October 14th, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Monday, September 2, in observance of the holiday. Have a safe and healthy Labor Day! 

SERVICE ALERT

In observance of Juneteenth, all DeKalb Public Health centers will be closed on Wednesday, June 19th. #happyjuneteenth

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Thursday, July 4th, in observance of the Federal Holiday. Have a safe and healthy Fourth of July!