Free COVID-19 testing is now available at Norris Health Center for UWM students who show symptoms but don’t need immediate medical care, or for students who feel they were previously infected by the virus and are not currently showing symptoms.
Norris Health Center, located near UWM’s Sandburg Residence Halls, has waived the usual $10 fee for students during the coronavirus pandemic for either of the two COVID-19 tests they are offering.
So far, roughly 20-25 students have been tested for COVID-19 at Norris with between one and two tests per day, according to Director of Clinical Services at Norris Health Center Dr. Aamir Siddiqi.
The most common test Norris is offering, PCR diagnostic testing, helps doctors diagnose whether a patient is currently infected with coronavirus and is relatively quick and easy. Students can drive up to a tent in one of the parking lots near Norris Health Center and perform the test almost completely on their own under the supervision of Norris nurses, which takes just a few minutes.
Antibody testing, the less common COVID-19 testing offered at Norris, is also available free of charge to current and recent UWM students.
UWM’s Norris Health Center has been working with Milwaukee health officials to conduct the testing and offer their COVID-19 services free to students as long as their testing supplies last. Once the supplies at Norris run out, the tests will cost roughly $100 each, according to Dr. Siddiqi.
The presence of antibodies is evidence that the body was fighting the virus, but unlike the flu and other common infectious diseases, reinfection even after antibodies are made could be possible because doctors just don’t know the long term effects of this novel coronavirus, according to Dr. Siddiqi.
Any UWM students who are showing symptoms of coronavirus infection should contact their nearest health provider immediately for diagnostic testing to figure out if they are infected with the virus.
Students who think they could have been infected by coronavirus previously should consider contacting Norris healthcare workers to get tested for antibodies so students and health workers can better understand the spread of the virus.
Students can expect to receive test results within 24 hours. Positive test results are usually available within minutes, but negative test results are first sent to Milwaukee city health officials for further confirmation of the results before the student is notified of the negative result to ensure accuracy and less spread of the virus.
Dr. Siddiqi and the rest of the healthcare workers at Norris Health Center have been coordinating tests and creating policies and procedures in accordance with CDC, Wisconsin DHS and Milwaukee city health official guidance.