A researcher works in a lab that is developing testing for the coronavirus at Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation in Nutley, New Jersey. Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

If you're worried you have coronavirus, what should you do? Here's what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends ...

Before you get the test: Health officials urge anyone who believes they should be tested to call ahead, rather than showing up unannounced and potentially exposing others to an infectious disease.

When should you be tested? The CDC recommends calling a healthcare professional if you feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, and have been in close contact with a person known to have coronavirus, or if you live in or have recently traveled from an area with ongoing spread of the virus.

The CDC recommends these types of people should be tested:

Those who have a fever OR lower respiratory symptoms (cough or shortness of breath) and have had "close contact" with a confirmed coronavirus patient within 14 days of their first symptoms. Those who have fever AND lower respiratory symptoms, require hospitalization, and have traveled to areas impacted by the epidemic in the last 14 days. Patients with fever and severe acute lower respiratory symptoms who require hospitalization and for whom no other diagnosis has been found -- such as the flu. No travel or contact exposure is needed.

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