It’s still hard to get tested without a car. Here’s who that hurts most in Miami-Dade.
On Tuesday, more than a month after the first drive-thru COVID-19 testing site opened in Miami-Dade, the county offered walk-up testing for the first time at a church parking lot in North Miami.
As public spaces start to reopen this week and the county considers how to do the same for non-essential businesses, experts say more widespread testing is still needed. But there will be hurdles to getting it done that are unique to this region — including the fact that more than 90,000 households in the county don’t have a car.
A new map created by the nonprofit Transit Alliance Miami attempts to show who that will affect most. Breaking the county into census tracts, the map identifies areas based on two criteria: how many households own a car per square mile and poverty levels. That reveals the areas — shaded in red — where poverty and lack of access to a car intersect.
“These are the populations that are most vulnerable in terms of getting tested,” said Azhar Chougle, the executive director of Transit Alliance Miami. “If we’re going to get out of this [crisis], we need to start thinking about more widespread testing for people without vehicles.”
Miami-Dade’s lowest-income areas with the least access to cars are often densely populated, too, the map suggests, including parts of Flagami, Little Havana, Hialeah and South Beach. That density leaves people more vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure.
Maria Cristina Chicuen, a community organizer with Transit Alliance, noted that many people who live in these areas are also the county’s “essential” workers and rely on public transit, meaning they may be more susceptible to COVID-19 as they leave home each day.
“Our position is that lack of car ownership should not be a barrier to testing,” Chicuen said. Testing for non-car owners, she said, “should just be part of the response, not an afterthought.”
The county’s census tracts with the highest concentration of zero-vehicle households per square mile, without taking income level into account, are largely in Miami Beach and downtown Miami, according to U.S. Census data.
Because of how the Florida Department of Health presents data on COVID-19, it’s hard to know exactly how lack of access to a car has affected who has been tested to date. In its breakdown by ZIP code, the state counts some cases using the address where a person was tested, rather than their home address.
But it’s clear that cities across the country have been ahead of Miami-Dade in providing walk-up testing. A walk-up site opened in late March in Jersey City, New Jersey. Others opened in early April in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Providence, Rhode Island saw a small walk-up site open April 21.
In a letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week, Transit Alliance Miami and 15 other local groups said state officials need to make more targeted efforts to get vulnerable populations tested. They recommended not only walk-up testing, but also expanded eligibility for in-home testing programs and mobile testing blitzes in neighborhoods with fewer cars.
“It is of utmost importance that all residents — regardless of age, ability, socioeconomic background, and legal status — have access to proper preventative medical care at this pivotal moment,” the letter said.
At a press conference Wednesday announcing his plan to reopen parts of the state’s economy outside of South Florida next week, DeSantis highlighted walk-up testing as part of his “phase one” reopening strategy.
“We did all these drive-up sites, which were very important, but we knew that there were under-served communities that could benefit from having a walk-up testing site,” he said.
Testing options begin to expand
City and county governments have gradually expanded testing options for those who are homebound or don’t have cars in recent weeks. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has administered tests for people with novel coronavirus symptoms who are 65 and over, or 18 and over with disabilities, as part of a countywide effort. The cities of Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Hialeah have rolled out similar in-home testing programs for their residents.
A new walk-up testing site is also coming soon to Miami Beach. Mayor Dan Gelber said Wednesday that testing at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which will start next week, will feature a walk-up option. Officials declined to say what the requirements will be to get tested, but testing sites around the county have recently started expanding to people who don’t have COVID-19 symptoms.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said earlier this week that the North Miami testing site will soon be followed by additional walk-up sites, though he didn’t specify where. A county spokesperson didn’t respond to an inquiry Wednesday.
In Broward County, two walk-up testing sites opened April 18 — one in Fort Lauderdale and another in Pompano Beach. DeSantis said Wednesday that there are also walk-up sites in Duval, Hillsborough, Leon and Palm Beach counties, and that more are coming online soon around the state.
Miami Herald staff writer Martin Vassolo contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 6:39 PM.
