Shelby County’s Latino community makes up about seven percent of the population, but represents about 20 percent of the overall cases of COVID-19. In its latest response, the health department is using mass testing events to build trust and dispel misinformation.
This past weekend, the Shelby County Health Department prepared to test up to 300 people at two different Memphis churches serving the Spanish-speaking community. About 60 people showed up over two days.
Still, Kelly Sealey, who works on vulnerable populations at the health department, says it was a larger turn out than at a previous event.
“Any community that tends to be underserved, any community that may feel a distrust with any government agency in general, I think you’re going to have a low turnout or a slower turnout,” she says.
Sealey says it will take a sustained effort to break down barriers. The health department doesn’t ask about immigration status or share personal information with agencies outside the Tennessee Department of Health and are intentionally recruiting the help of local churches to normalize testing.
But there are also plenty of other concerns.
“There’s also a level of: what is COVID? Do I really want to know what COVID is, and then if I get COVID, what is that impact on my family?” Sealey says. “Does that mean I am going to have to not work for 10 days, or 14 days, and can we afford our rent?”
The health department offers housing and food for anyone who needs to quarantine away from their family. Sealey says they also connect people to programs that can assist with rent or utilities in the event they cannot leave home to work.
Rafael Figueroa, a reporter with local media outlet La Prensa Latina, got a precautionary test on Sunday in anticipation of upcoming travel. He’d like to see pop-up testing sites at places with large pools of Latino workers, such as at construction sites.
“The problem is you have to go where the people are,” he says.
The health department says it’s considering different options for future testing events.