Rapid deployment of a community-centered mobile COVID-19 testing unit to improve health equity

UNC Health rapidly launched a mobile Covid testing unit to underserved community sites in May 2020 to provide targeted testing of uninsured Black and Latinx community members. We engaged with existing Black and Latinx community leaders to co-develop the program, converting a mobile vascular screening unit into a testing site and resource center for patients at risk. In the first three months, 2,464 people were tested with an overall Covid-positive rate of 15.6% and a maximum single day positive rate of 41%. Over the course of the program, testing increased, community leader engagement increased, local community agency interest and participation grew, and patients received proactive testing and care who otherwise might have presented acutely ill or unintentionally spread Covid-19 throughout at-risk communities. (author abstract)