SAN FRANCISCO — With the spread of flu and COVID-19 as the holidays and family reunion season approach, a testing and vaccination site in San Francisco’s Mission District hopes to protect some of the most vulnerable local residents.
The “Unidos en Salud” on 24th and Capp streets has been around for nearly two years. It’s a low barrierArray They don’t ask for health insurance or ID, and it’s free.
And even more than two and a half years after the pandemic began, others in the region are still at your service.
“While we need to recover, we need the economy to be doing well, we don’t need the disparities in fitness that COVID has made disappear,” said Valerie Tulier-Laiwa of the Latino Task Force.
Maria Malak covered the outdoor site on Monday morning for a while before the site opened at nine in the morning. She with her husband who worked in the area.
Malak there to get vaccinated. She said she and her husband had to have one.
“To save us from getting COVID, God forbid,” he said. “Every time we came, we were treated well here. “
On site, they will be offering COVID-19 vaccines, adding the bivalent booster, flu shot, and monkeypox vaccine.
Malek won his booster and so did the flu shot.
“I think the flu will be more potent this year,” Malak said.
And she’s wrong. CDC charts show that flu hospitalizations are expanding in the United States.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 positivity rates are surging in the Bay Area.
“Test positivity is 14 percent,” retired nurse Diane Jones said of positivity at the site. She volunteers with Unidos en Salud.
She admits COVID-19 testing is declining. Many use immediate testing at home. But among the other people who came to get tested, a positivity rate of 14 percent contrasts sharply with San Francisco’s 6 percent.
This site is in the Latino cultural district. Many of those who enter are families of Latino workers.
Jones says that because of the availability of injections, they had to send text messages reminding other people about their boosters. They have been sent in several languages and are increasingly approaching to be vaccinated.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the COVID state of emergency would end in February 2023. Jones fears what might happen to the investment for this site after them, but said they hope to work with the city to find a way to end that timeline.
“We need this network of essential personnel to be because they are the most vulnerable,” Jones said.