Covid Test

If you have COVID-19 symptoms or were recently in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, you may need a COVID test. St. Michael's Elite Hospital in Sugar Land, Texas, offers COVID testing by appointment. The state-of-the-art facility has an FDA-certified lab onsite that provides accurate results within 15 minutes. They also offer outpatient COVID-19 antibody testing. Call St. Michael's Elite Hospital or book your COVID test appointment online today.  

What is a COVID test?

St. Michael's Elite Hospital offers two types of COVID tests: COVID-19 antigen test and COVID-19 antibody test.

COVID-19 antigen test

The COVID-19 antigen test is a viral test. It checks for an active COVID-19 infection. The COVID-19 antigen test at St. Michael's Elite Hospital takes secretions from the back of your nose and throat and sends the specimen to the onsite lab for testing. 

St. Michael's Elite Hospital provides automated and objective COVID-19 antigen test results in 15 minutes. 

COVID-19 antibody test

The COVID-19 antibody test checks to see if you had COVID-19. The antibody test looks for the COVID-19 antibodies, which appear about three weeks after a COVID-19 infection.

The COVID-19 antibody test at St. Michael's Elite Hospital is a simple blood test. 

Who needs a COVID test?

You may need a COVID test if you suspect you have COVID-19 or think you were infected but never tested. For the COVID-19 antigen test, the team at St. Michael's Elite Hospital reviews your symptoms to determine if you would benefit from testing.

Symptoms of an active COVID-19 infection include:

• Fever and chills
• Cough with congestion
• Shortness of breath
• Difficulty breathing
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Loss of taste or smell

In addition to testing, the team may also closely monitor your symptoms in their fully equipped emergency room and provides care as needed.

St. Michael's Elite Hospital also performs rapid flu testing. Since COVID-19 symptoms and flu symptoms are similar, your emergency room physician may run both tests so you get an accurate diagnosis.

For COVID-19 antibody testing, the team only recommends the test if you suspect you had COVID-19 but never got tested during the active infection. The team only performs the COVID-19 antibody test for patients without COVID-19 symptoms. 

What happens during the COVID test?

The specifics of your COVID test at St. Michael's Elite Hospital may depend on the type of testing you need. 

For the COVID-19 antigen test, your provider performs the nasopharyngeal test, placing a swab up your nasal passage and toward the back of your throat to collect the specimen.

For COVID-19 antibody testing, your provider draws a blood sample from your arm and sends it to the onsite lab for testing. 

The COVID test at St. Michael's Elite Hospital is by appointment only. However, the team of board-certified emergency room physicians provides emergency care for patients experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms. You don’t need an appointment for emergency care.

To schedule your COVID test, call St. Michael's Elite Hospital, or use the online booking tool.