UofU extends free asymptomatic COVID tests to families of personnel

Since January of this year, the University of Utah has offered free rapid asymptomatic COVID-19 testing to its the campus community. Now the institution has extended the service to the immediate family and household members of university staff, students and faculty through the University of Utah Health operations.

Asymptomatic testing is crucial for restricting COVID-19 transmission on campus, the school said. “The UofU has world-class facilities that take samples and process the tests on-site, making it the only public Utah university offering the highly accurate tests for free,” a university release said. “Keeping all the steps in-house means results come back fast.”

“If you get your test sample in before noon, you’ll usually get results back that same afternoon. The tests average at well under a 24-hour turnaround. It doesn’t get any quicker than that,” said John Phillips, associate dean of research and infrastructure for the School of Medicine and director of the Health Science Center (HSC) Core facilities where the samples are processed.

“We’re starting to see more breakthrough cases, often in asymptomatic individuals who are fully immunized but still positive. Testing remains an effective way to limit spread to the elderly, the immunocompromised and unvaccinated children,” said Cameron Wright, program manager for campus COVID-19 testing. “We are remarkably fortunate to have this free, quick, accurate, accessible testing provided on campus by this Core Labs team.”

For test locations and hours of operations, UofU personnel can visit alert.utah.edu/covid/testing.