LSU Health Shreveport’s Mobile COVID-19 Team Gives Thousands Direct Access to Testing
May 21, 2020
Turning Science Into Service
Since April, mobile COVID-19 testing vans have been going back and forth from the new Emerging Viral Threat (EVT) Lab at LSU Health Shreveport to small towns and rural parishes all across northern Louisiana. They have visited over a dozen locations, sometimes multiple times, and made it possible for thousands of residents in medically underserved areas to receive free testing.
“Our efforts are strategically focused to address COVID-19 disparities,” said Dr. Jennifer Singh (center in the photo), associate professor of medicine at LSU Health Shreveport, and medical director of Partners in Wellness. “The communities we’ve been going to are generally underserved, and we know African Americans are suffering at disproportionate rates from COVID-19 as far as outcomes. Our mobile testing effort is an attempt to get ahead of that and specifically focus on the communities we know struggle with transportation or access and might not have a primary care provider.”
The EVT Lab has so far produced more than 30,000 test kits and given 20,000 Louisiana residents direct access to testing. Continued testing is likely to play a key role in the re-opening of the economy.
“The communities we’ve been going to are generally underserved, and we know African Americans are suffering at disproportionate rates from COVID-19 as far as outcomes.”
- Dr. Jennifer Singh, Partners in Wellness Medical Director