Northwell, Long Island hospitals set rules for coronavirus testing

Long Island hospitals are establishing sometimes stiff criteria for whom to test for the new coronavirus as they brace for a surge of new cases with the outbreak’s ongoing spread throughout the region. Representatives of local hospitals said Sunday that symptoms of the illness — such as a fever, cough and shortness of breath — are prerequisites for tests, and they urged people who fear they are infected but are not having a medical emergency to contact their primary care doctors first.