Carrié Solages encourages Elmont residents to get tested for Covid-19

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Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages is encouraging Elmont residents to get tested for Covid-19 at the new rapid testing site on Hempstead Turnpike.

The site opened at the Federally Qualified Health Center last month, and provides residents with coronavirus tests regardless of their insurance or immigration status. They do not need to display symptoms to get tested, Solages noted in a Facebook Live video on May13, and multilingual translation services are available.

Additionally, he said, anyone who gets tested at the site will also get a free box of food.

“Please come here to get a free Covid-19 test,” Solages pleaded in the video, noting that the pandemic is not yet over. “This is about respecting other people’s health.”

As of May 11, Elmont had 1,220 confirmed coronavirus cases, and reports indicate the virus is disproportionately affecting communities of color. State Department of Health data released earlier this year showed the fatality rate among African-Americans was 17 percent statewide, despite the fact that blacks make up only 9 percent of the state’s population. And in Nassau County, blacks represent 13 percent of the population, but made up 17 percent of the county’s deaths.

Elmont’s population is 45.5 percent black, 21.4 percent Latino and 14.8 percent white, according to Data USA.

As a result of this study, Carrié Solages and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to add more rapid testing facilities in communities with large minority populations such as Elmont, Valley Stream, Freeport and Inwood. The communities were facing a backlog in testing at the time, Carrié explained in an April 8 letter, “leaving many unable to receive the test in a timely fashion, and therefore forcing them to remain uncertain about their health status.”

He also said African-Americans are more likely to have underlying health conditions that could make Covid-19 more severe — such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

“It took a lot to get this done for our community,” he said in the video, but on April 28 it officially opened to the public.

To schedule an appointment, call (516) 396 -7500.