The Key To Coronavirus Testing Is Community
Jon Jacobo, the Latino Task Force for COVID-19, and UCSF members during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A study of the virus's spread held by UC San Francisco researchers in partnership with San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg General, mass testing is provided free of charge for the residents and workers in a one mile square radius of the Mission district. Mike Kai Chen hide caption
Jon Jacobo, the Latino Task Force for COVID-19, and UCSF members during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A study of the virus's spread held by UC San Francisco researchers in partnership with San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg General, mass testing is provided free of charge for the residents and workers in a one mile square radius of the Mission district.
Mike Kai ChenAs the picture of who is impacted by the coronavirus becomes clearer, it's evident that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting minorities in the United States.
In San Francisco, Hispanics and Latinxs make up 46% of all coronavirus cases — but they make up just 15% of the population.
Doctors at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a hospital in San Francisco's Mission District, noticed this disparity within their own patients. So they planned a study using a "test-to-care" model, which factored in follow-up care for those testing positive. To effectively reach neighborhood residents and workers, they partnered with local groups like the Latino Task Force for COVID-19, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the District 10 (D10) Community.
The partnership, called Unidos en Salud, focused their efforts on on a particular census tract within the Mission District.
They found that existing socioeconomic inequities were major factors in determining who got sick in the Mission. Those who tested positive were more likely to earn less than $50,000 per year, to share a household with a relatively high number of people and to be unable to work from home.
Follow Maddie on Twitter for more coronavirus coverage. Her Twitter handle is @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez, edited by Viet Le and Geoff Brumfiel, and fact-checked by Emily Vaughn.