BUFFALO, N.Y. — For weeks, Erie County lagged behind other smaller Upstate counties in COVID-19 testing.
Not anymore.
In both large and small-scale ways, testing has ramped like no other county north of Dutchess County.
In a small but important effort, coronavirus testing has rolled into impoverished neighborhoods on Buffalo’s West Side and East Side. Some of the highest concentrations of COVID-19 positive cases lie in zip codes in these neighborhoods that bookend the city center.
Dr. Raul Vazquez, who established Urban Family Practice on lower Niagara Street in the mid-90’s, saw a need for more testing.
“The vulnerable populations, people with hypertension and diabetes, they’re actually more prone to die from this,” says Dr. Vazquez, noting the poor and particularly people of color are more prone to both disorders.
What Vazquez did was get United Healthcare and Fidelis Care to lend him van to use for mobile COVID-19 testing. On Tuesday, 2 On Your Side was there as one of the vans, parked along Jefferson Avenue, performed coronavirus tests on a number of people.
“We have four or five generations that live in these homes," says Vazquez. "If you get it now and in five days you give it to someone else, then you’ve got your grandma or your uncle at risk. People have to know what’s going on within the household."
On a larger scale, the state health department is reportedly ready to set-up large drive-up COVID-19 testing sites in Niagara and Erie County.
The Niagara Gazette reported Monday the location in that county would be the NCCC campus. No dates or times for testing have been announced.
Overall, more than 14,000 tests had been performed in Erie County as of Monday.
