UCSF Health Sets Up Drive-Through Testing for Pre-Screened, High-Risk Employees

UCSF Health has erected a limited-use, drive-through test facility at the UCSF Laurel Heights campus on California Street that will open on Wednesday, March 25.

The mobile station is being provided to meet the testing needs of UCSF employees who have been determined to be at high risk for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. It will be available by appointment only, after screening by Occupational Health Services, and is expected to provide tests for 25 to 30 people per day. It is not open to the public at this time.

Hours of operation are expected to be Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with appointments every 15 minutes. The site will be used only for drive-up/drive-through testing, not for treatment. No walk-ins will be accepted. 

The individuals being tested will drive up to the test tent and remain in their car for their test, which will include a nasal swab. Tests will be processed within 72 hours at UCSF Labs.

The Laurel Heights site will be shared by One Medical, a UCSF Health-affiliated, membership-based, primary care provider. The site will serve One Medical members aged 14 and over, on an appointment-only basis and upon physician referral. One Medical will start testing March 24.

UCSF Health has been testing patients in its hospitals and emergency departments for COVID-19 since March 9. It also has set up Respiratory Screening Clinics at UCSF Health’s Parnassus, Mount Zion and Mission Bay sites, which provide testing by appointment and upon physician referral. However, it has not had the capacity to provide tests more broadly.

UCSF is in discussions with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and other major health care providers in the San Francisco Bay Area to determine how best to expand mobile clinics to serve the general public.