Bilingual Coronavirus Testing Site Opens In Washington Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A new bilingual coronavirus testing facility has opened in Washington Heights to help New York City's Latino community, who have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.

The site, opened by SOMOS Community Care, officially opened Monday at 2360 Amsterdam Ave. and will be able to test more than 50 New Yorkers a day. It is the first bilingual testing site that is not accessed by a drive-through, SOMOS said.

“This new Washington Heights facility is critical to ensuring that the Latino community — and the first responders and healthcare workers who serve them — can easily access testing in their own language,” said Dr. Ramon Tallaj, SOMOS founder and chairman. “If we are going to flatten the curve, we urgently need more bilingual, easily accessible testing sites like this one in the hardest-hit neighborhoods in New York — and cities across the country.”

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The facility will be staffed by "culturally competent" community and family doctors who cannot only help immigrant and undocumented New Yorkers in their own language, but help address the cultural barriers that prevent access to healthcare, SOMOS said. It is appointment-only.

A survey by SOMOS and polling group Latino Decisiosn found that 66 percent of Latinos in the U.S. have difficulty finding necessitates like medicine, food and household supplies. About 57 percent have had to cancel or delay medical appointments, 20 percent have lost employer-provided health insurance and 63 percent are worried someone in their household will lose their health insurance.

The Washington Heights facility is the third multilingual site opened by SOMOS. The other two are drive-through locations in Queens and the Bronx.

Data broken down by zip code released by the city reveals that the lower-income parts of New York City seemed to be the hardest hit by the virus. 19 of the 20 lowest concentrations of coronavirus cases hail from affluent zip codes, the New York Times reported.

Data also shows that Hispanic residents and other minorities are also more likely to die from the coronavirus than other New Yorkers.

Hispanic New Yorkers make up 34 percent of the people to lose their lives to COVID-19, despite representing 29 percent of the population, and Black New Yorkers make up 28 percent of the fatalities despite representing 22 percent of the population, data show.

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