Long Beach officials announced Tuesday that health crews will be traveling to West, Central and North Long Beach to provide free COVID-19 testing to Latino and undocumented communities, who have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The city’s most recent health data shows Latinos make up 44% of COVID-19 infection cases, however, they make up 42% of the city’s population. While Black individuals in Long Beach make up 12% of the city’s population, the city reported they represent about 6% of coronavirus cases.
“One thing that we learned over the last few months, is that the undocumented communities and immigrants—we needed to change the way we were communicating and providing the test to them,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said.
Immigration status will not impede people from getting a test, and language translation will be available at the pop-up testing event, officials stated. These mobile testing teams can conduct up to 300 tests a day, Long Beach city spokesman Kevin Lee said.
The clinics will be offered:
- Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Westside Christian Church (1594 W. Willow St.)
- Saturday, Sept. 26, at Washington Middle School (1450 Cedar Ave.)
- Sunday, Sept. 27, at Starr King Elementary School (145 E. Artesia Blvd.)