New daily COVID-19 screening requirement starts Oct. 1

UT Southwestern leadership and infection prevention experts continue to prioritize the health and safety of the entire UT Southwestern community during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As we prepare for flu season, and considering the potential impact of recent school and business reopenings, we are expanding our daily health screening requirements to include nonclinical employees, faculty, and learners. This added safety measure and shared responsibility will help ensure we are doing our best to keep the UTSW community safe in the coming months.

Beginning Thursday, Oct. 1, all UTSW employees, faculty, and learners will be required to complete a COVID-19 screening prior to starting their workday or education.

Visit www.utsouthwestern.edu/protect to automatically be taken to the screening. Screenings may be completed in a few different ways: 

  • Personnel in nonclinical buildings: Please complete the “UTSW Protect” screening online, or by calling 214-645-5100, prior to starting your workday or education. The screening takes less than one minute to complete and asks you to attest that you are symptom-free and have not been exposed to COVID-19. Individuals who do not pass the screening will be asked to remain home and consult with Occupational Health on next steps.
  • Personnel in clinical buildings: You will continue to be screened at the entrances to our clinical facilities – this step meets the daily screening requirement for both clinical and nonclinical individuals working and learning at our clinical facilities.

Although UT Southwestern has been fortunate to have had only a small number of campus COVID-19 exposures since March, we must stay vigilant as we head into the winter months. Using UTSW Protect to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms and consider any possible exposures is a quick, but important, daily action we can take to redouble our efforts and keep each other safe.

A tip sheet and answers to frequently asked questions about this new requirement are posted online. Virtual Q&A sessions are also available at the following times.

If you have additional questions, please utswprotect@utsouthwestern.edu the UTSW Protect team.