Professional News

COVID-19 Testing Information for UK Employees

photo of mask with UK logo
Mask being provided to UK students and employees. Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 4, 2020) As University of Kentucky faculty and staff return to on-site operations for the fall semester, more information about COVID-19 testing for employees is now available.

All UK employees should monitor their health. If you are not feeling well, it is important to stay home and consult with your health care provider, just as you would with any health concern.

UK HealthCare will continue its employee testing it has had in place since the beginning of the COVID-19 response in March.

Completing a COVID-19 test is not required for returning to on-site work, at the recommendation of our team of UK HealthCare providers and other clinical and research leaders at UK. However, if you would like to complete a test, you can contact your personal health care provider for guidance or select one of the free state testing sites. Some health insurance plans, including UK health insurance plans, do not cover all costs of a COVID-19 test unless it is deemed medically necessary (you are symptomatic or a test is ordered by a health care provider, for example).

For more information or if these testing options don’t meet your needs, contact UK Health Corps for additional information and testing resources. UK Health Corps is serving as the support hub for accessing services, information and referrals related to COVID-19 for main campus students, faculty and staff this fall semester. It can be reached at 859-218-SAFE or healthcorps@uky.edu.

If you complete the campus daily wellness check (more information will be available on this soon) and are identified as symptomatic for COVID-19, or if you are identified by a contact tracer, you may be advised to be tested. In that event, you can contact your personal health care provider to receive a test. University Health Service and Wild Health, which will provide testing affiliated with the UK Health Corps, will make on-campus testing for employees available soon.

If you receive a test, we encourage you to share the results with UK Health Corps. Doing so helps with contact tracing. Any positive test is reported to local health departments, which will be in touch with UK about those results.

Any employee who tests positive for COVID-19 should not return to on-site work until being cleared by a public health official.

For additional questions related to testing, screening and support contact the UK Health Corps team at 859-218-SAFE(7233) or healthcorps@uky.edu.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.