Panthers who feel ill and suspect they may have COVID or any other respiratory illness can schedule an appointment to receive care and get tested for COVID at one of FIU's clinical sites.
Faculty and staff can call FIU Health (Ambulatory Care Center) at 305-348-3627 to make an appointment.
Students can visit the Student Health Center's portal to schedule an appointment. If students have any questions, they can call the FIU Student Health Center at 305-348-8385 for MMC or 305-919-5620 for BBC.
Types of tests
Two kinds of tests are available for COVID-19: viral tests and antibody tests.
A viral test tells you if you have a current infection. There are two methods of testing:
- Standard Molecular Testing (RT-PCR), rapid or regular: This common coronavirus (COVID-19) test checks samples from your respiratory system, such as a swab from the inside of your nose, to see if you are currently infected. These viral tests are sent to a laboratory for analysis and results can take several days.
- Antigen (Rapid COVID-19) Testing: An antigen, or rapid COVID-19 test, is another type of diagnostic test and can provide results in less than an hour. Positive results are usually highly accurate but negative results may need to be confirmed with a standard, molecular test.
An antibody test might tell you if you had a past infection.
If you want to know more about the differences in these tests, please visit FDA Testing Basics.
Who should get tested?
- People who have symptoms of COVID-19.
The following is a list of symptoms associated with COVID-19 (but there may be others):
- Fever (temperature of 100.4°F or higher) or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headaches
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
In general, having a cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, or new loss of taste or smell or having more than one of any of the symptoms above would increase the urgency for getting tested for COVID-19 due to an increased likelihood that the illness is COVID-19.
Visit the CDC website for more information.