A top doctor from Illinois announced Wednesday that people should start getting tested regularly for coronavirus due to the rise of the cases in the state.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said even if people aren’t showing symptoms, they should still be regularly tested because a person could spread coronavirus while being asymptomatic.
“You can’t know if you have COVID or not, so we really need to move away from waiting ’til you have symptoms” to get tested, Ezike said. “We cannot wait for symptoms. We need to be testing on a regular basis.”
On Wednesday, data from John Hopkins University showed the U.S. reported its highest number of new infections in a single day – over 100,000.
Ezike urged those who think they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine and wait to get a test until at least seven days after the possible exposure. Even if the test comes back negative, people should quarantine the full 14 days.
She urged those who have been in high-risk settings — such as doctors — to get tested.