Aaliyah Garza/The Rider photos
Jacqueline Peraza | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will continue offering COVID-19 testing throughout Fall 2020 to students and employees at its Health Service Clinics and testing sites on Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.
Scott Spear, medical director for Student & Employee Health and an associate professor of pediatrics, said the Health Service Clinics have been testing students for the virus for about three or four months now.
“Fairly early into the pandemic, we started offering the testing,” Spear said. “First through our reference lab and then, more recently, through the UTRGV lab that’s responsible for offering the tests at the drive-thru sites.”
He said the clinics will offer their testing services to students and employees for free until the end of the pandemic.
“We’re covering the testing for students,” Spear said. “You pay a fee every semester with your tuition and that’s what helps us provide these services to you.”
UTRGV students can also get tested at any of the four drive-thru testing sites located across the Rio Grande Valley:
— Lot E10 on West Van Week Street in Edinburg across the UT Health RGV Employee Health Clinic;
— Lot B4 on FJRM Avenue across from the Casa Bella Apartments in Brownsville;
— UTRGV Regional Academic Health Center on 2102 Treasure Hills Blvd. in Harlingen; and,
— UT Health RGV/Knapp Family Health Center on 2810 West Expressway 83 in Mercedes.
Spear said, as of now, the locations of these sites are not set to change.
At both the Health Service Clinics and drive-thru testing sites, students planning on utilizing the service are required to call ahead for a preliminary COVID-19 screening over the phone before scheduling an appointment.
With the start of the semester and the return of people on campus, students and employees are being asked to fill out the Preliminary COVID-19 Screening Form online before visiting the university.
The form asks for students’ and employees’ information as well as the reason for filling out the form, living arrangements, campus locations and other COVID-19-related questions.
“They should go to this website and report that they have these symptoms, or these exposures for these positive tests and The COVID-19 Response Team will contact them, call them back, and find out what is going on and determine whether they need to be tested sooner [or later],” Spear said, “[And] whether they need to isolate or quarantine based on whether they are ill or if they have been exposed to somebody.”
The full form can be found here.
Ingrid Mariam Aleman, a biomedical sciences senior, said she visited the Edinburg drive-thru site in June and had a good experience with the short wait time and prepared staff.
“I was so glad I got to go there because I had visited other testing sites in the Valley and the line was crazy long,” Aleman said. “I did have to make an appointment, but that was also very easy.”
When asked about her thoughts on UTRGV providing COVID-19 testing to students and employees, she replied, “I think it’s great because, like, I know some places can be really expensive and right now since money is tight for a lot of families … that’s the perfect way.”
Spear said he encourages everyone to be safe by practicing social distancing, wearing appropriate facial coverings and high protection equipment around people, including family and friends.
“There are people who have a greater risk of being ill with [COVID-19] if they get it, but we have seen a lot of young people become very ill and even die because of [COVID-19],” he said. “It is not just a disease that affects the elderly and people who have health issues. So, we need to not just be concerned about passing the infection on, but also getting it ourselves. There’s going to be students for whom this infection may be very serious and have very serious health implications.”
