People scramble to get tested for COVID but appointments are hard to get

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People scramble¹ to get tested for COVID but appointments are hard to get

Transcript²

A small community health clinic in Richmond, Calif., is slammed with demand for COVID-19 tests. Public health officials are telling people to get tested, but that's proving difficult for many.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Across the U.S., the spread of omicron has people scrambling³ to get tested for COVID, but the lines are long, appointments at testing sites get scooped⁴ up fast and rapid antigen tests are hard to find. Raquel Maria Dillon with member station KQED visited a clinic in the working-class city of Richmond in Northern California.

RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, BYLINE⁵: Alejandra Felix had a cough and a sore throat, so she did the responsible thing and called in sick.

ALEJANDRA FELIX: (Speaking Spanish).

DILLON: Felix cleans houses for a living and works for herself. Before she goes back to work, she wants to be sure it's just a flu. The COVID testing site here at LifeLong Medical Center was fully⁶ booked. She called and called...

FELIX: (Speaking Spanish).

DILLON: ...But couldn't get an appointment. For Felix, a week with no work means losing up to $800 in income.

FELIX: (Speaking Spanish).

DILLON: Money she needs to pay the bills. But this clinic isn't taking walk-ups anymore.

FELIX: (Speaking Spanish).

DILLON: Felix left feeling desperate. Since the holidays, the demand for testing here has ballooned. For the small staff, it's exhausting.

GRISELDA RAMIREZ-ESCAMILLA: We get tired, and we just got to step aside, take a breath. There are times where we cry a little, and then we come back.

DILLON: Griselda Ramirez-Escamilla, who runs the urgent care center here, says this surge is taking an emotional toll⁷.

RAMIREZ-ESCAMILLA: You know, it's hard. And we show up every morning. We have times where we do break down, but it's just the nature of it. We have to lift our spirits and keep moving.

DILLON: LifeLong Medical serves a specific community - Medicaid patients and essential workers who risk COVID exposure at their jobs. The pandemic is hitting these low-income communities again, this time with omicron. LifeLong runs three testing sites in the Bay Area. Its clinics are getting about a thousand COVID calls each day. This site can only test 60 people daily and can't scale up.

JOCELYN FREEMAN GARRICK: It's not always about quantity. But if we're reaching those who have no other way to access testing resources, then we are achieving our goal.

DILLON: Dr. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick is with Alameda County's public health department. With demand up 400% at county testing locations, she says these smaller sites do what larger ones can't - serve these vulnerable neighborhoods.

FREEMAN GARRICK: We found at those smaller sites that the percent positivity rate was much higher than the general population. So the numbers may be small, but that's a pivotal role.

GABY PEREZ: So go ahead and pull your mask down. And open your mouth and stick your tongue out.

DILLON: That's 24-year-old Gaby Perez. It's her job to swab noses and throats for the COVID tests here. She says many immigrant families in this majority-Latino city live in multigenerational households with grandparents or children who are too young to be vaccinated⁸.

PEREZ: Once somebody tests positive, it's like there's no way of getting away from it unless you go to another home. You got to use the same bathroom, same bedroom, same kitchen. There's not really a way around it.

DILLON: She speaks from experience.

PEREZ: I do live with my parents, and I have been hit by COVID. I thank God that I did survive it. My dad was really sick.

DILLON: That was last summer, and he's OK now. But the experience inspired her to switch careers from child care to medical assistant as a step toward becoming a nurse to further serve her community.

For NPR News, I'm Raquel Maria Dillon in Richmond, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF DEEB'S "FLUID DYNAMICS")

1 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

8 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？