Testing
About Testing
How is COVID-19 tested?
People can get tested for COVID‑19 at public testing sites and drive‑thru locations throughout Texas. View the map of all sites to find the closest one to you. Check your location’s hours and referral requirements before your visit.
Learn more about our COVID-19 pricing.
Who should be tested for COVID-19?
- People who have symptoms of COVID-19
- People who have had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with someone with confirmed COVID-19
- People who have been asked or referred to get testing by their healthcare provider, local or state health department
Should I be tested for COVID-19?
If you have had close contact with someone with confirmed COVID-19, you should be tested. If you develop symptoms, you should call a health care professional, who will guide the next steps for evaluation and possible testing for COVID-19.
COVID-19 Testing at UT Southwestern
Drive-Up Testing for Patients
In response to the needs of our community, we’ve expanded our capabilities for COVID-19 testing.
We have two COVID-19 Drive-Up Specimen Collection Sites:
Dallas
- Visitor Parking Lot No. 18 at Paul M. Bass Administrative and Clinical Center. This is open 7 days a week, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Only UT Southwestern providers can refer UT Southwestern patients age 12 and older to the drive-through testing site.
Patients with a scheduled appointment for testing should enter the parking lot via Harry Hines Boulevard and drive along the most northern driveway until they are in the north parking lot. Signage guides traffic into and out of the drive-up site. Campus Police and Public Safety Officers will also be present to direct traffic.
Fort Worth
- Moncrief Cancer Center. This is open Monday – Saturday.
Only UT Southwestern providers can refer UT Southwestern patients age 12 and older and requires a referral order.
Presurgical COVID-19 Testing
We require COVID-19 testing for all patients awaiting surgical procedures. Testing allows us to move forward after we have confidently ruled out COVID-19.
Care teams will need to have test results for review 24 hours ahead of a scheduled procedure. To ensure we have the results within that 24-hour period, patients will need to be tested within 72 hours prior to a scheduled surgery or procedure.
Our presurgical testing team will order the test. At this time, we ask that providers and clinics refrain from placing the order locally, and instead rely on the presurgical testing team to order the test. The attending provider will need to sign off on this order.
Although we prefer that patients are tested at UT Southwestern, we will also accept results from a UTSW-approved local health department testing facility.
It’s possible that a patient’s procedure could be canceled based on results, but decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis and will take into account the patient’s individualized plan of care.