UWM and other UW System campuses are serving as locations for a six-week federal “surge testing” effort aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
The program done in partnership with UW System and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides free, rapid-results tests for community members age 5 and older, as well as UWM employees and students at UWM’s Waukesha and Washington County campuses. Students on the main campus in Milwaukee continue to be tested through UWM’s existing antigen testing program.
Available Dates & Times
This rapid results testing will be available in the UWM at Washington County gymnasium and the UWM at Waukesha Field House the dates below. Tests are offered between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. for these dates at the branch campuses:
- Wednesday, November 18th (Washington County)
- Thursday, November 19th (Waukesha)
- Wednesday, November 25th (Washington County)
- Wednesday, December 2nd (Waukesha)
- Wednesday, December 9th (Washington County)
- Thursday, December 10th (Waukesha)
- Wednesday, December 16th (Washington County)
- Friday, December 18th (Waukesha)
- January 6th (Washington County)
- January 7th (Waukesha)
- January 13th (Washington County)
- January 14th (Waukesha)
- January 20th (Washington County)
- January 21st (Waukesha)
Registration
Participants must register in advance at www.doineedacovid19test.com. There will be no walk-in appointments. Appointments have been spaced out to help maintain social distancing.
What to Expect
Participants will go to the testing site, self-administer an Abbott BinaxNOW antigen test under the supervision of medical professionals from federal contractor eTrueNorth and wait about 15 minutes for their results. They will need a smartphone to retrieve their results by logging into the same website.
Confirmatory PCR tests provided by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services will be given to anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms but tests negative, and anyone who doesn’t have symptoms but tests positive. Antigen tests, which are relatively fast and inexpensive, look for proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. PCR tests, which are more accurate but may take longer to process, look for genetic material from that virus. Participants who need a confirmatory PCR test will go to the PCR registration table at their testing location and receive one immediately. Results of that test will be available in about four days.
Reporting
UWM will receive notice of employees and students who test positive, and those results will be added to the campus dashboard. UWM will not receive notice of community members who test positive. Students are still encouraged to self-report positive tests, and employees should inform their supervisors.
Learn more about this rapid results testing on UWM’s Coronavirus site here.