Atlanta – To help keep hospital emergency departments open to treat medical emergencies,
individuals seeking COVID testing should not go to hospital emergency departments unless they
are experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms requiring urgent medical attention. Asymptomatic
individuals or individuals with mild symptoms should find testing sites other than hospital
emergency departments.
COVID-19 testing locations are available throughout Georgia and can be found on the Georgia
Department of Public Health (DPH) website at https://dph.georgia.gov/covidtesting. We are working
with our lab partners to expand testing hours and add testing sites, however, lines will continue to
be long as thousands of Georgians want to get tested.
To help alleviate delays at testing sites, it is critical that people register BEFORE going to a DPH
test site. Online registration (https://dph.georgia.gov/covidtesting) will help alleviate back-ups at
test sites and free up staff to do more testing if they aren’t doing registration paperwork.
COVID vaccination is available statewide and is our best tool for ending this pandemic and
reducing the overwhelming strain on the healthcare system and healthcare providers. To find a
COVID vaccination location, visit https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-vaccine. Georgians aged 5 and
older are eligible for vaccination. Georgians 16 and older are eligible for boosters six months after
completing their primary vaccine series of either Moderna or Pfizer (only Pfizer is authorized for
booster doses in 16- and 17- year-olds) and two months after their J&J vaccine.
Basic prevention measures should also be followed to help prevent further spread of COVID and
mitigate outbreaks of infection, especially in public settings: wear a mask, physically distance, and
wash your hands frequently with soap and water.
For updates on COVID-19, follow @GaDPH and @GovKemp on Twitter and @GaDPH and
@GovKemp on Facebook.