| Healthcare Professionals
COVID-19 testing specimens must be ordered by a healthcare professional. The preferred sample type is nasopharyngeal (NP) swab in UTM viral transport media.
Please do not send the patient for COVID-19 specimen collection OR to drop off COVID-19 specimens to any HNL Lab Medicine Patient Center.
Specimens must be collected by a healthcare professional or a designated COVID-19 regional testing site, which can be sent to HNL Lab Medicine for processing.
- Prior to collection, instruct the patient to blow their nose to remove excess mucous.
- Gently pass the swab through the nose into the posterior nasopharynx.
- Rub the swab on the nasopharyngeal membrane several times to loosen and collect cellular material.
- Withdraw the swab and place in UTM tube.
- Snap off swab at the score mark and screw on cap of UTM tube.
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Specimen must be refrigerated or frozen.
IMPORTANT: Samples must be picked up by an HNL Lab Medicine courier or processed by one of the designated COVID-19 regional testing and assessment sites. If you require a courier pickup, please contact our Customer Care Department at 877-402-4221.
Healthcare professionals should contact their public health authority for information on managing individuals potentially infected with the virus. We encourage healthcare professionals to review the CDC website to guide their patient management and lab testing for COVID-19:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/hcp/index.html.