COVID-19 Testing Information

What should you do if you test positive for COVID-19?

If you test positive, you should stay home. Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care. Learn more about symptoms and when you should seek medical care.

Do you need to get tested for COVID-19?

You should get tested for COVID-19 if you:

  • Have symptoms of COVID-19
  • Have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19
  • Do not have symptoms but need testing to return to work or school

Where can you get tested?

At state and community testing sites

If you have a primary care provider, call your provider. They will coordinate initial screening and, if appropriate, testing though the state you live in. If you do not have a primary care provider, and would like one, please call 800-653-0776.

If you do not have a primary care provider, contact your state health department to schedule a test:

At Dartmouth Health

You can get tested at a Dartmouth Health location if you are:

  • A Dartmouth Health primary care patient
  • A Dartmouth Health employee or family member

Note: Dartmouth Health performs testing if you have symptoms or need testing to return to school or work. If you need testing because you have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, please use one of the state or community testing sites.

Appointments are required for all Dartmouth Health drive-thru testing locations.

  • Schedule your appointment using your myDH account.
  • If you don’t have a myDH account, please contact your primary care provider.
  • Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center patients, employees, and employee family members can also schedule their appointments by calling the COVID-19 Hotline at 603-650-1818 , Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 5:00 pm; Saturday, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm (noon).

Drive-thru testing locations at Dartmouth Health

At Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Colburn Hill parking lot
444 Mount Support Road
Lebanon, NH 03766

At Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Concord, Manchester, or Nashua

Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Concord
254 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301

Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester
100 Hitchcock Way
Manchester, NH 03104

Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Nashua
2300 Southwood Drive
Nashua, NH 03063

Note: If you have previously tested positive for COVID-19 and need a test after 5 days to return to work or school, we recommend that you use an at-home (antigen) test. Our drive-thru test is a PCR test, which is likely to show a positive result 5 days after a previous positive test result.

At-home antigen testing

COVID-19 at-home antigen tests are diagnostic tests that are approved by the FDA with Emergency Use Authorization. You can purchase these tests at pharmacies and other locations and administer yourself to test for the COVID-19 antigen.

Free at-home tests

You can order 4 free at-home (antigen) COVID-19 tests from the federal government.

Antigen tests detect the presence of the COVID-19 virus, but they are less sensitive than PCR tests.

  • If you have COVID-19 symptoms and a negative home antigen test result, you can schedule a confirmation PCR test.
  • If you have a positive home antigen test result, you do not need to schedule a confirmatory PCR test.

If you test positive

If you test positive for COVID-19, you should stay home. Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care. Learn more about symptoms and when you should seek medical care.

Testing for travel

Due to limited testing capacity, we are no longer offering pre-travel testing at any of our drive-thru locations. Employees and patients who need pre-travel testing need to schedule it at other testing sites.

Testing for patients being admitted to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

All patients being admitted to the DHMC require COVID-19 testing. This includes planned as well as unplanned admissions.

  • Most pre-procedural admission testing is being done as an outpatient prior to admission.
  • If the patient is admitted within 72 hours of a negative surveillance test, repeat testing is not necessary.
  • If it has been more than 72 hours since a negative surveillance test, repeat testing should be done on admission.
  • There is no indication to repeat a positive COVID-19 test.
  • For patients undergoing a same-day procedure at DHMC, we are not performing routine testing. In some cases, however, the provider may request testing if a positive result would result in canceling the procedure.

Learn more about COVID-19 testing

To read answers to frequently asked questions about testing, visit our our COVID-19 Testing FAQ page.

For health care providers: If your patient needs testing

If you are a health care provider who has a patient about whom there is concern for the possibility of COVID-19, who does not require emergency department evaluation, and has either contacted you by phone or is in an ambulatory practice, please ask the patient to don a mask and go home to self-quarantine pending further decisions on COVID-19 testing. Do not direct them to the DHMC Emergency Department.