Where to get a COVID test in Las Vegas

By Hillary Davis (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 | 2 a.m.

The UNLV coronavirus testing clinic — the largest in Clark County — shut down early Sunday night after reaching capacity just halfway through its shift.

The clinic did 1,750 tests in the first two and a half hours of its planned five-hour operation and closed at 8 p.m., said Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling.

Usually, the clinic runs from 5:30-10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and normally has a nightly capacity of about 500 tests, Welling said. But these aren't normal times.

The crush of test-seekers came alongside a report from the Southern Nevada Health District that Clark County alone recorded 8,104 new cases of COVID-19 between Friday and Sunday, and a seven-day rolling average for test positivity at 36.3% as of Saturday.

Gov. Steve Sisolak called the post-holiday cases reports “alarming” and said the state “is continuing to analyze the numbers and we are working with health districts and other partners to provide resources to combat the surge we are facing.” Sisolak encouraged continued masking, vaccination and testing.

So with the holidays now passed, coronavirus cases spiking and demand for tests similarly surging, getting tested can require some flexibility. Here are some of the options in Clark County:

Clinics partnered with the Southern Nevada Health District for Tuesday testing (sites may vary by day):

• Southern Nevada Health District, 280 S. Decatur Blvd., Las Vegas; 6:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m., by appointment only
• The Jimmie Hughes Campus, 150 N. Yucca St., Ste. 1, Mesquite; 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Silver Springs Recreation Center, 1951 Silver Springs Pkwy., Henderson; 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Heritage Park Senior Facility, 300 W. Racetrack Road, Henderson; 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Anthem Hills Park, 2256 Reunion Drive, Henderson; 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Windmill Library, 7060 W. Windmill Lane, Las Vegas; 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Enterprise Library, 8310 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas; 10 am-4 p.m.
• Sunrise Library, 5400 E. Harris Ave., Las Vegas; 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• West Las Vegas Library, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Las Vegas; 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
• Veterans Memorial Community Center, 101 S. Pavilion Center Drive, Las Vegas; 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.
• West Flamingo Senior Center, 6255 W. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas; 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Alexander Library, 1755 W. Alexander Road, North Las Vegas, Noon-6 p.m.
• Parkdale Recreation Center, 3200 Ferndale St., Las Vegas, Noon- 6 p.m.
• East Las Vegas Community Center, 250 N. Eastern Ave., Las Vegas, Noon-6 p.m.
• CSN North Las Vegas, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., North Las Vegas, Noon- 4 p.m., by appointment only
• CSN West Charleston, 6375 W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, Noon- 4 p.m., by appointment only
• CSN Henderson, 700 College Drive, Henderson, Noon-4 p.m., by appointment only
• Whitney Library, 5175 E. Tropicana Ave., Las Vegas, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Aliante Library, 2400 Deer Springs Way, North Las Vegas, 2 p.m.- 5 p.m.
• UNLV Paradise Campus Parking Lot, 851 E. Tropicana Ave., Las Vegas 5:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., registration required

Unless otherwise noted, walk-ins are allowed. However, appointments will be prioritized. Appointments can be made here. Other testing locations, such as pharmacies and quick-care clinics, can be found at here.

Information on vaccine clinics can be found here.

As for at-home tests, drugstores and online shops alike may be out of stock. But relief may be on the way soon, as the U.S. departments of Defense and Health and Human Services awarded a $136.7 million contract to MilliporeSigma to manufacture the paper that displays the results of rapid tests. The expansion effort will allow the manufacturer to make more than 83 million tests per month, the DoD announced on Dec. 29.

Also last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized another at-home test, this one made by the German firm Siemens Healthineers.

In a call with reporters last Thursday, Nevada state epidemiologist Melissa Peek-Bullock said at-home tests are not reported to the state. Only those done in person are reported. And if an at-home test is negative, she said people should take in-person tests to be sure of the results.

“The self-tests are really meant (as) a tool for the individual to use to take some self-responsibility — in terms of, if you’re sick, isolate,” she said.