Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center

Project Summary/AbstractIn the US, COVID-19 has unveiled a disproportionate health burden in low income and underserved segmentsof society. In Louisiana, some of the greatest health and economic consequences are evident in our Blackcommunities. There is an urgent need to establish effective testing strategies in these communities as theFall/Winter virus surges unfold. The Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center providesthe essential infrastructure and key foundational support for biomedical research in our region and is uniquelypositioned to lead a community-engaged testing research project to determine differences in COVID-19 testingrates between community-based (churches, community centers, and schools) and medical clinic-based testingsites, and determine approaches that will increase uptake of testing in underserved Black communities in theSouth. We plan to address these issues using a two-pronged approach. First, we will use a community basedparticipatory research approach to determine differences in SARS-CoV-2 testing rates across distincttypes of test sites within five urban underserved Black communities in the American South. We will usea multimedia campaign to promote and conduct RT-PCR testing on salivary samples obtained from 2,000adults at 1) medical clinics, 2) schools, 3) community centers, and 4) churches (in random order) within fiveZIP codes with known low socioeconomic status (SES) and a high representation of Black residents. Theprimary outcome will be the number of tests performed at each type of test site. We will collect information onage, sex, race, BMI, employment, social determinants of health using an aggregate SES score to identifyimportant correlates of testing rates. Second, we will further leverage our strong and well-integratedpartnership with the Baton Rouge Mayor's Healthy City Initiative together with our LA CaTS CommunityAdvisory Boards (CABs) to conduct community-based focus groups to obtain qualitative data about theperceptions and attitudes related to testing access and potential barriers affecting such. We will use thisinformation to determine community-driven approaches that are effective in reducing barriers and createstrategies to increase SARS-CoV-2 testing uptake in urban underserved Black communities. Results ofthis project will greatly increase our understanding of the factors that have led to a disproportionate COVID-19health burden in these underserved populations and lay the groundwork for developing strategies to reducethese disparities in all underserved Black communities. Resulting data will inform the equitable deployment offuture virus/flu testing and a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.