Alameda County adds four new facilities, expands testing in underserved communities

Alameda County on Monday announced the addition of four new Covid-19 coronavirus testing sites around the county.

Two of the sites — the REACH Ashland Youth Center at 16335 E. 14th St. in unincorporated Ashland/Cherryland and the Alameda County building at 224 W. Winton Ave. in Hayward — will be run in partnership with OptumServe Federal Health Services.

The REACH Youth Center site opened Monday while the county building will open later this week; both testing sites will offer walk-up testing by appointment only.

The other two testing sites, both located in East Oakland, are launching through a partnership between the city of Oakland, the Community Organized Relief Effort nonprofit and Verily Life Sciences.

The Roots Community Health Center, located at 9925 International Blvd., opened for walk-up testing last Wednesday, while walk-up and drive-thru testing at the Allen Temple Baptist Church, located at 8501 International Blvd., is expected to begin later this week. Testing at both sites is also by appointment only.

County Health Care Services Agency Director Colleen Chawla said:

“These new sites help Alameda County dramatically expand testing for individuals who previously had limited access.”

County officials collaborated with state public health officials to establish the testing sites in underserved areas and areas with disproportionately high coronavirus case rates. The OptumServe testing sites are also able to move around the county as testing needs shift.

County Supervisor Nate Miley, whose district includes three of the four new sites, said:

“Ongoing testing and reporting show that Latinx, African American and Pacific Islander communities have higher rates of chronic disease.”

Miley said:

“Unfortunately, members of these same communities are also more likely to live in situations that make it difficult to maintain physical distancing or sheltering in place. We have to stay focused on these disparities when facing this pandemic.”

The four new locations bring the county’s total to 31 testing sites, which have a combined capacity to conduct 750 tests per day. County health officials have set the local testing goal at 3,100 tests per day for sufficient case detection.

Residents can make appointments at OptumServe testing sites at lhi.care/covidtesting while appointments for the Roots Community Health Center and the Allen Temple Baptist Church can be made at rootsclinic.org/covid-19-testing and projectbaseline.com/study/covid-19, respectively.

A full list of coronavirus testing sites in Alameda County can be found at acphd.org/2019-ncov/testing.aspx.