The nonprofit Group Organized Aid Effort, generally known as CORE, introduced on Wednesday, Dec. 22, that it’ll broaden COVID-19 testing capability in Los Angeles amid surging instances introduced on by the Omicron variant.
Los Angeles County on Wednesday reported 6,509 new COVID-19 instances, greater than double Tuesday’s quantity and “one of many steepest rises we’ve ever seen over the course of the pandemic,” Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer stated. One other 16 COVID-related deaths have been additionally reported, and one other 162 confirmed instances of the Omicron variant.
To accommodate demand in the course of the surge, CORE, co-founded by actor Sean Penn, hopes to extend testing to a minimal of 1,000 every day exams throughout its Los Angeles websites, up from a median of 250 exams per day earlier than the Omicron surge.
CORE stated it is going to meet demand by including two new websites per week by way of the vacations. The nonprofit at the moment operates 11 testing clinics, each fastened websites and cell. It hopes to extend to 13 items earlier than Dec. 30 and to fifteen by the top of the primary week in January.
Particulars about the place the brand new websites will likely be positioned weren’t accessible. CORE can be working to supply speedy testing at eight of the websites by the primary week of January.
“The current surge of COVID-19 instances fueled by Omicron comes as no shock to us at CORE. Fewer than 3% of individuals in low-income nations have been vaccinated, and so long as our international leaders proceed to fail to prioritize vaccinating the world’s most underserved populations, new variants will emerge and surges will comply with,” CORE stated in an announcement offered to Metropolis Information Service.
“We’re working with our regional companions to make sure that we offer entry to essentially the most marginalized and weak communities, the place folks can not afford to spend three hours in line ready to get examined,” the nonprofit added.
CORE’s companions embrace Pasadena Job Middle, YMCA, Women Membership of LA, Los Angeles Well being Providers, Alma Household Middle, the town of Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles County Libraries, Herald Christian Middle, Union Station, Echo Park Residents, LA Metropolis Parks and Recreation, the Mayor’s Workplace, LA Attire, NoHo Alliance, Graff Lab, Stream Well being, Carbon Well being, Fulgent, LA County and Curogram.
CORE was based by Penn and Ann Lee in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Throughout the pandemic, it has partnered with the town to supply free testing, vaccines and assist companies to weak communities in Los Angeles. It expanded operations throughout the U.S. and internationally, and has administered greater than 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccines and greater than 5.9 million COVID-19 exams worldwide as of December 2021. Extra info may be discovered at coreresponse.org.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday introduced an effort to broaden entry to testing statewide, primarily by growing working hours at state-run websites. The state has practically 6,300 testing websites, he stated.
“We’ve been in a position to decide that 90% of Californians … have entry to a testing website that’s inside half-hour of their house, 60% inside simply quarter-hour of their house. We now have 257 OptumServe companions, and we’re working with them to increase the hours of operation, to broaden them notably the place there’s excessive demand and there’s some bottlenecks,” Newsom stated.
He urged residents who’ve been making an attempt to obtain hard-to-obtain take-home exams from pharmacies and different stores to go to the state’s MyTurn web site to get details about accessible free testing.
Individuals can go to myturn.ca.gov for extra info.