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© 2022 Chamie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate implementation of a community-engaged approach to scale up COVID-19 mass testing in low-income, majority-Latino communities.

Methods

In January 2021, we formed a community-academic “Latino COVID-19 Collaborative” with residents, leaders, and community-based organizations (CBOs) from majority-Latinx, low-income communities in three California counties (Marin/Merced/San Francisco). The collaborative met monthly to discuss barriers/facilitators for COVID-19 testing, and plan mass testing events informed by San Francisco’s Unidos en Salud “test and respond” model, offering community-based COVID-19 testing and post-test support in two US-census tracts: Canal (Marin) and Planada (Merced). We evaluated implementation using the RE-AIM framework. To further assess testing barriers, we surveyed a random sample of residents who did not attend the events.

Results

Fifty-five residents and CBO staff participated in the Latino collaborative. Leading facilitators identified to increase testing were extended hours of community-based testing and financial support during isolation. In March-April 2021, 1,217 people attended mass-testing events over 13 days: COVID-19 positivity was 3% and 1% in Canal and Planada, respectively. The RE-AIM evaluation found: census tract testing coverage of 4.2% and 6.3%, respectively; 90% of event attendees were Latino, 89% had household income <$50,000/year, and 44% first-time testers (reach), effectiveness in diagnosing symptomatic cases early (median isolation time: 7 days) and asymptomatic COVID-19 (41% at diagnosis), high adoption by CBOs in both counties, implementation of rapid testing (median: 17.5 minutes) and disclosure, and post-event maintenance of community-based testing. Among 265 non-attendees surveyed, 114 (43%) reported they were aware of the event: reasons for non-attendance among the 114 were insufficient time (32%), inability to leave work (24%), and perceptions that testing was unnecessary post-vaccination (24%) or when asymptomatic (25%).

Conclusion

Community-engaged mass “test and respond” events offer a reproducible approach to rapidly increase COVID-19 testing access in low-income, Latinx communities.

Details

Title
Reproducibility and implementation of a rapid, community-based COVID-19 “test and respond” model in low-income, majority-Latino communities in Northern California
Author
Chamie, Gabriel  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Prado, Patric; Oviedo, Yolanda; Vizcaíno, Tatiana; Arechiga, Carina; Marson, Kara  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Carrera, Omar; Alvarado, Manuel J; Corchado, Claudia G; Gomez, Monica; Mochel, Marilyn; de Leon, Irene; Garibay, Kesia K; Durazo, Arturo; Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young; Yen, Irene H; Sauceda, John  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Rojas, Susana; DeRisi, Joe; Petersen, Maya  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Havlir, Diane V; Marquez, Carina
First page
e0276257
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2022
Publication date
Oct 2022
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2729490110
Copyright
© 2022 Chamie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.