If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, body aches or loss of smell) it is important that you immediately self-isolate and be tested for coronavirus.
Rush employees, students and volunteers living in Illinois have access to COVID testing for symptomatic COVID-19 concerns, as well as asymptomatic concerns in certain circumstances. To determine your eligibility and schedule an appointment, use the Employee/Student/Volunteer COVID-19 Testing process in MyChart or the My Rush app.
We also highly encourage that all students on campus participate in the asymptomatic bi-weekly University Campus COVID Screening Test located in the Armour Academic Center. Students in classes, labs or clinical rotations on campus should click here for scheduling instructions and FAQs.
Because providers are licensed by state, students, faculty and staff living outside Illinois should contact their primary care provider or clinic by phone or virtual visit to schedule a test.
If you test positive for novel coronavirus, follow instructions from Infection Control and contact your program director or manager immediately.
Please review this document to learn about what your COVID-19 test result means and the protocols to follow after getting tested.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause illnesses in people, but many of them do not. Most of the coronaviruses that make people sick usually only cause mild respiratory disease, similar to the common cold.
The new coronavirus that is causing alarm officially is named SARS-CoV-2, but it also is known as 2019 novel coronavirus. It is called novel because it hasn’t been seen in human beings before. It first was identified in Wuhan, a city in China, in December 2019. Because the virus is new, the investigation of it is evolving rapidly and being updated frequently.
The disease the virus causes is known as coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19 for short.
The symptoms are similar to the flu or pneumonia and can include a fever, cough, shortness of breath, body aches, sore throat or loss of smell. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure to the virus.
COVID-19 typically causes mild symptoms, and the vast majority of people will recover fully from it. Some people with the virus are asymptomatic; they do not develop any symptoms. However, in some cases these symptoms may develop into more serious problems, such as severe breathlessness.
The CDC recommends you call your doctor if you develop these symptoms or have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19 or recently have traveled from an area with widespread or ongoing community spread of COVID-19.
If you are experiencing any flu-like symptoms such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath, body aches, sore throat or loss of smell, it is important that you immediately self-isolate and do not come to campus or go out in public to prevent further infection.
Students, faculty and staff can take advantage of free testing using the MyRush app.
Watch this video for instructions on how to schedule a test.
The best defense against spreading this coronavirus is wearing a mask while in public, whether you are sick or not, and social distancing from others while in public.
Equally important is HANDWASHING. Wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer when soap is not available. Additionally:
If you have been in close contact with a person (less than 6 feet away for more than 15 minutes) who tested positive for COVID-19, you are required to quarantine for 14 days per the CDC guidelines.
There are no exceptions to this requirement. Even if you took a COVID test after your exposure and it was negative, that just means you were negative on that testing day. You could develop COVID symptoms within the 14 day period after exposure, so quarantine is required for the full 14 days.
See the Wellness page for more information and resources.