De Anza finally offers free on-campus PCR tests to all students and faculty

De+Anza+students%2C+staff+and+faculty+can+get+tested+on+Wednesdays+between+12%3A30+and+4%3A30+p.m.+in+Parking+Lot+A.

Teddy Ha

De Anza students, staff and faculty can get tested on Wednesdays between 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. in Parking Lot A.

Michael Davis, Editor Emeritus

De Anza College has started free on-campus testing for all current students and faculty in Parking Lot A from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

The site went live shortly before the Feb. 28 town hall announcement that not only was De Anza scaling back its ambitions for a majority in-person spring, but also requiring a booster shot to come on campus.

A one-time registration on the Simple HealthKit patient portal is all that is required to take advantage of this service. Once registered, students and faculty do not need to make an appointment ahead of time, and can drop in anytime during the designated time period set on Wednesday. 

For those without health insurance, PCR testing is still available, as it is not required to get tested. Rosafel Nogra, the clinic director at De Anza’s Health Services, said that it is a federal requirement that vendors ask for insurance information, but it won’t be a barrier for students to get a PCR test.

“It’s not really for the students, but a requirement in general everywhere you go,” Nogra said. “If there is a cost that needs to be covered, the campus will cover it.”

Amelia Kauweloa, clinic nurse, also said that insurance questions are asked no matter where one gets a PCR test, and that they want to help students understand how to work around it.

“We do walk students through the process of how to deliver that uninsured information so that drive thru testing is available to all students regardless of their insurance information,” Kauweloa said. “As a care provider to students, we do want you to be insured, but that will not be a barrier to receiving your PCR.”

After registration, students and faculty have the two options of going through a drive thru or a walk-in line to get tested.

The drive thru in Lot A is split into three lanes. There, the people at the site will ask if you completed the one-time registration online to get tested. If you have done so, they will direct you to one of the three lanes to get tested. When you are in your lane, they will ask for your De Anza ID number and photo ID if your picture is not on file to confirm you are a De Anza student or employee. 

Once identified, you will get your PCR testing kit, self swab the inside of your nose and hand the secured sample back to a person at the site.

The second option for those who do not have a car for the drive thru is walk-through testing in a far lane of the same parking lot. Kauweloa said this is another way of trying to provide for all students.

“Many of our students come by bus or they live locally, so with this line, that is not a particular barrier at all,” Kauweloa said. “You still need that one-time registration though, so please understand that and make sure to wear a mask when coming to get tested.”

“We welcome you absolutely.”

In order to fill out that one-time registration, there are six steps that need to be followed:

 

  1. Go to the Simple Healthkit patient portal and click on “Sign up for an account.”
  2. Enter the agency code for De Anza. For students, enter “deanza-stu.” For faculty, enter “deanzaemp.”
  3. Fill in the necessary personal information and click the check box next to “I Agree” to sign the consent form. After that, click the submit button to complete your account.
  4. Once submitted, you will be sent a code via text message to verify the registration of your account. Check your text messages after clicking submit for a confirmation code. Complete the registration process by entering the unique code provided to you.
  5. Click on the “Insurance Details” tab to the left side of the screen once you are on the home page after logging in. Then click on the green “Add Insurance” button.
  6. Fill in the required information and take a picture of both the front and back of your insurance card, and upload them. If you don’t have insurance, fill in “UNINSURED” into all the blanks and upload any two photos.

 

Important: If you don’t have insurance, fill in “UNINSURED” into all the blank fields and upload any two photos.

 

You can get tested on Wednesdays between 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. When your test results are ready, an email and text will be sent to you.

Go back to the Simple HealthKit portal, login, select the tab that says “Test Results” and click on “View Report” to see your results.

Updates on the current COVID-19 requirement for De Anza can be found here