TU Partners With Oklahoma Lab To Provide Free COVID-19 Tests

The University of Tulsa is partnering with an Oklahoma lab to provide free COVID-19 testing for students, faculty and staff, as well as the Tulsa community.

Having COVID-19 testing on campus is part of the new normal for students at TU. This is the second week free testing has been available.

The University of Tulsa is nearly three weeks into the fall semester, a year that is looking and feeling a little bit different for students and staff.

"All of our classrooms are reduced occupancy, everyone is wearing masks and being physically distant and we've just rolled out, of course, this new program where we will be doing continuous testing of the student body throughout the fall semester," said Matt Warren with TU.

Warren said, for the most part, students are excited to be back on campus. He said their partnership with IMMYLabs to provide free testing is important especially because the virus could quickly spread through the student body if people don't have symptoms.

"That way we are able to identify those cases that may be asymptomatic and have those students isolate and engage in contact tracing so that we can keep our overall campus healthy and safe," Warren said.

The testing is also available to the Tulsa community as well. J.T. Harrison with IMMYLabs wants people to know there's plenty of tests to go around.

"It's an important part of what we do here just to let people know that there's not a gap in testing capacity, we have the capacity here in Oklahoma so I hope people are taking advantage of that," Harrison said. 

Warren said all you need to do is make an appointment online ahead of time. He said test results usually come back within two business days.

Testing will take place again next Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Reynolds Center parking lot. For more information, visit the IMMYLabs website.