UCSF has released the initial findings of a landmark coronavirus testing effort in San Francisco’s Mission District. For the last month, hundreds of volunteers staffed pop-up testing sites with the goal of testing everyone in a four-square block area of the Mission.
The results? Just over 2 percent tested positive for COVID-19. That is much higher than the city’s overall positive rate.
Ninety percent of those who tested positive said they have been unable to work from home. The vast majority also reported incomes of less than $50,000. The results suggest that low-wage workers and those who still have to physically go to work have been hit particularly hard by this virus.
The results also show the outsized impact COVID-19 is having on the city’s Latinx community. Though it is roughly 15 percent of the city’s total population, it accounts for almost 40 percent of the city’s confirmed cases.
More findings from the study will be released later this month.
