‘It’s always good to check.’ No-cost COVID-19 testing arrives in Fresno neighborhoods
My only previous visit to Lions Park in west central Fresno was for a feature story about a skateboarder with one leg.
Nine years later, I returned. To observe, from a reasonable distance, dozens of people of all ages and skin colors get screened and tested for a highly contagious virus.
Of all the potential uses of a public park, there’s one we never had to consider until COVID-19 gate-crashed our lives.
Chosen by Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, the location served its purpose well enough. The only things that seemed out of ordinary were temporary signage and several pop-up canopy tents erected between a worn softball field and the closed skate park.
The tents were staffed by employees of United Health Centers, a Fresno-based nonprofit that partnered with the city to provide mobile coronavirus testing in districts whose councilmembers request them.
Upcoming mobile events are Friday from 8 a.m. to noon at Manchester Center, Wednesday at Hoover High School and Aug. 22 at Roeding Park. They are advertised as “by appointment only,” but walk-ups are generally accepted. Appointments are available at unitedhealthcenters.org or by calling 1-800-492-4227.
United Health Centers has emerged as one of the largest COVID-19 test providers in the region, if not the largest. According to community development officer David Phillips, the federally qualified health center performs 1,200 tests per day at 17 clinics and mobile events in Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties.
A vast majority of those 1,200 are in Fresno County, which is currently averaging between 2,000 and 2,500 daily tests, according to Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra.
“We’re trying to get people’s results in less than a week,” Phillips said. “Some are coming back as soon as three or four days.”
Mobile test events are advertised as “no-cost” instead of “free” because somebody ends up paying. If the patient has health insurance, that somebody will be their insurance company. If not, costs are absorbed by federal subsidies.
Consultation via tablet
Most of the pop-up tents serve as socially distanced outdoor waiting rooms. Except the physician isn’t actually on site — he or she is in her office or, on Saturdays, at home. The consultation is done on a tablet.
Once approved by the doctor, the COVID-19 test is administered by nurses wearing medical scrubs, face shields and gloves. Patients are swabbed for about 15 seconds mid nostril. It is not the dreaded “brain scrape” collected from the back of the nose cavity and throat.
“Tickled more than it hurt,” one woman said.
“It felt like a sneeze that you couldn’t let go,” said another.
“They put that (swab) way up there,” said a third. “Made my eyes water and everything else.”
Even though Fresno County offers free COVID testing at Fresno City College and the West Fresno Regional Center, Soria believes some are “intimidated” by those locations and feel more comfortable getting tested in their neighborhoods.
At most United Health Centers mobile testing events, you don’t even have to leave your car to get tested. This isn’t possible at Lions Park without disrupting traffic on Marks Avenue.
Still, Soria wanted it there. Lions Park is located at the edge of the 93722 ZIP code, which has become something of a hot spot. More confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in 93722 since July 11 than any ZIP code in the county, according to the latest surveillance figures. (That’s not totally unexpected; 93722 also has the largest population.)
“There’s a tremendous need, and this is an underserved area,” Soria said. “My motto has always been you don’t have to go to City Hall, we’ll come to you. This is just an extension of that.”
‘I need a negative’
Why are people getting tested? The largest share of those I spoke to said they required a document stating they were free of COVID-19 in order to return to work.
“I need a negative,” said Candace Fairly, a health care employee who works with autistic kids.
“With my job, you can never be too careful,” said Lyft driver Arturo Vaca, who also brought both his parents to be tested.
Others just wanted peace of mind.
“It’s always good to check,” said Alfredo Rodriguez, who lives a mile away. “A lot of people are afraid to take a test because they don’t want to know. Not me.
“I think people should take advantage of this. It’s for their own good.”
Fresno County has reported 130,785 COVID-19 tests during the first five months of the pandemic. That may sound like a large number, but it’s only about 13 percent of the total population.
How many of us will get tested before this is over? That’s hard to say. What’s certain is the need for convenient, no-cost testing in Fresno provided by pop-up sites. No matter how strange they feel.
