OLYMPIA – People who have the symptoms of COVID-19 – including a cough, high fever or shortness of breath – should get tested, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday. The state can handle administering and analyzing more tests.

Those who live with others who have symptoms or work places where they could easily be exposed to the virus should consider getting tested, too.

That advice is significantly different from March, when the pandemic was just beginning to hit Washington and testing capacity and supplies were limited. In those days, people were urged to stay home if they had mild symptoms and see a doctor to get a test if the symptoms got worse.

But laboratories in the state have ramped up to handle as many as 22,000 tests a day and the supplies for test kits are increasing, prompting the state to issue new advice.

“If you think you’re sick, get tested – even people who are mildly symptomatic,” Inslee said.

State Health Secretary John Wiesman said more is known about the virus now than when it first appeared in the winter. A person can be contagious before showing symptoms, which also include headache, body ache, a new loss of taste or smell, vomiting or diarrhea.

While those can be symptoms for other diseases, the state is urging anyone with those symptoms to be tested for COVID-19 as it continues to slowly reopen the economy and more people return to work.

That could include people taking part in protests for police accountability and racial equality. Wiesman said protesters who are concerned and didn’t take precautions like wearing a face mask, using hand sanitizer and keeping a safe distance from others, should talk to their health care provider about getting a test or visit a clinic that provides drive-thru or walk-up testing.

If you find out you’ve been in contact with someone in the last 14 days who tested positive for COVID-19, you should get tested, Wiesman said. It can take that long for symptoms to develop, but the person may have been contagious before that.

People who test positive should stay home until they test negative for the virus.