MILWAUKEE — The second floor of the UW-Milwaukee Student Union is home to one of America’s first federal surge COVID-19 testing sites.

The Wisconsin Room at UWM is one of 26 free rapid testing sites, one on each University of Wisconsin campus.

The Department of Health and Human Services distributed 250,000 Abbott BinaxNOW tests across the state, promising results via email in just 15 minutes. Those who receive a positive result on a rapid test are given a secondary nasal swab, which is sent to a lab to confirm results within three days.

A major goal of the major testing expansion is to identify and isolate as many sick individuals as possible, especially those who are asymptomatic and may unknowingly spread the virus.

“Wisconsin, along with our country, is not in good shape,” said Dr. Aamir Siddiqi, the director of clinical services at UW-Milwaukee’s Norris Health Center. “Testing, testing testing will allow us to remove some of us who may not yet know that we have COVID-19 and keep ourselves away from the community.”

While the on-campus rapid tests are free, they do require pre-registration for an appointment. You can find a list of surge testing locations and register for a rapid test here.