Henrico Health Department plans daily COVID-19 testing in at-risk Henrico communities beginning Monday

Henrico County Health Department officials and volunteer healthcare providers will begin conducting COVID-19 testing in low-income and minority communities in Henrico County Monday, hoping to learn more about how deep the virus has spread in those groups.

Henrico Health Director Danny Avula told the Citizen Wednesday that although a schedule hasn’t been formally established yet, communities like St. Luke Apartments (adjacent to Richmond Raceway) and Henrico Arms (just off Darbytown Road near the Richmond city line) are likely to be at the top of the list.

He’s hopeful that the efforts will continue every weekday and possibly some weekends for the next month, with 100 to 200 people tested each day.

The challenge in testing in some of the lower-income communities, Avula said, is a basic one: getting the word out. He suggested that relationships the health department already has with certain communities, including St. Luke’s and Henrico Arms, will help draw larger turnouts quickly, and he hopes that word will spread in other similar communities, too.

Another challenge: the fact that many uninsured or those living below the poverty line may be hesitant to be tested because a positive test result could force them to miss several weeks of work – and miss out on critical income.

Many of the communities skew toward populations of single mothers and their children, Avula said – demographics that typically do not experience many significant symptoms from the virus. But testing is important in those places because, he said, “No matter who you are, when there’s disease in your backyard, you’re going to act differently.”

One surprise to Avula during the first month of the pandemic is that despite the massive outbreak that has now claimed 46 lives and infected 128 residents and 35 staff members at the Canterbury Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, there haven’t been more significant outbreaks at other senior communities or at jails or prisons. But, he said, it may simply be that there are a number of infected people in those places but they’re mostly asymptomatic.

One other senior care center that is experiencing a rapid increase in cases is the Beth Sholom Senior Living community just across the street from Canterbury, where at least 25 residents are known to have the virus. They’re all being cared for int he community’s healthcare center. Henrico Health Department officials intend to test all residents of that center (which is part of the overall community) today, Avlua said.

“Part of my concern is not that [more] cases don’t exist in jails [and nursing homes] – it’s that we’re not actively testing people who aren’t showing symptoms,” he said. “I feel like we’re still a couple weeks away from having that type of widespread [testing] availability.”

The number of new test results in Virginia has grown by only about 1,400 each of the past two days – a seemingly small number considering the pandemic has been ongoing for a month.

At this point, Avula said, it’s not necessarily a lack of tests that’s stopping healthcare providers from the effort – it’s a lack of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for their staff members, which makes them hesitant to offer testing. if those staffers aren’t protected, he said, “they’re going to lose their staff to quarantine,” which could force smaller or midsize practices to have to shut down for a period of time.

If you believe you may have COVID-19 and want to be tested, the best plan of action is to call the Health Department hotline at 205-3501. Officials will direct you to nearby testing sites