NWGA public health, housing authority partner to address testing disparities

♦ With more demand, the DPH is capping tests for COVID-19 at 350 a day.

In an effort to reach a portion of the community that public health officials felt was not being reached, 88 people were tested for COVID-19 at a pop-up site at John Graham Homes early Wednesday.

The DPH partnered with Northwest Georgia Housing Authority’s Envision Center to address “problematic testing disparities in a vulnerable part of our community,” Northwest Georgia Public Health Spokesperson Logan Boss said.

This is the third time public health officials partnered with the Envision Center, as well as 100 Black Men of Rome and Northwest Georgia, to set up a testing site at a housing authority location.

The Associated Press reported that, among those with Medicare nationally,

Black people are nearly four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized with COVID-19. The analysis from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found that Hispanics were about twice as likely as whites to be hospitalized.

The number of Floyd County residents infected with COVID-19 increased by 25 on Wednesday to a cumulative total of 654, according to DPH numbers released at 3 p.m.

The number of new cases has gone up dramatically over the past few weeks, with 155 new cases in the last seven days and 237 new cases in the past 14 days.

Also on Wednesday, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency reported that there were 23 COVID-19 positive patients being treated at Floyd Medical Center and six COVID-19 patients being treated at Redmond Regional Medical Center.

The number of people seeking testing is making the DPH shift their overall strategy in the Northwest Georgia Health District, Boss said.

Now free testing sites, like the one at West Rome Baptist Church on Shorter Avenue, will begin offering tests beginning at 8:30 a.m. but will stop testing after reaching a cap of 350 tests a day.

The supply hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand, Boss said. Public health receives new testing supplies regularly but their current stock has been strained recently.

John Bailey Theresa Harris is one of 88 people who stopped by a pop-up COVID-19 testing site at John Graham Homes in East Rome early Wednesday. The site was hosted by the Department of Public Health and the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority’s Envision Center. This was the third partnership between the two entities to address testing disparities in a vulnerable portion of the Floyd County community. Across the state, Black communities have been disproportionately affected by the spread of the coronavirus.

John Bailey A woman steps up to get a free COVID-19 test at a pop-up testing site at John Graham Homes early Wednesday.

John Bailey People steadily signed up to receive a free COVID-19 test at a Department of Public Health pop-up testing center at John Graham Homes in East Rome early Wednesday. The DPH partnered with the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority’s Envision Center program to address testing disparities in the community.

John Bailey Free tests for COVID-19, along with masks, were available at a pop-up location in John Graham Homes early Wednesday.

Logan Boss