One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
LA's Community Clinics Struggle To Handle Coronavirus Surge
A pharmacist at Clinica Romero. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker, Courtesy Clinica Romero)
We know that hospitals in Los Angeles County are overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, but what about community clinics?
At Clinica Romero, which provides primary care services in Pico Union and Boyle Heights, about 40% of the COVID-19 tests are coming back positive, according to staff.
Dr. Don Garcia, the medical director there, is working to make Clinica Romero a monoclonal antibody infusion center. The drugs are supposed to help people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 avoid hospitalization. The infusions were approved for emergency use by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November.
But Garcia said access to the treatment isn't equitable. "Why do we not have five infusion centers in East L.A., where that's the highest infectivity [rate]?" he told LAist/KPCC. "Why is it always at the West side?"
And while Clinica Romero has been approved as a vaccine administration site, Garcia is also worried about staffing: "If we have difficulty doing thirty COVID tests a day, how are we going to respond to a thousand people wanting to come in and get the vaccine?"
To make matters more complicated, Garcia said, about half of the patients that Clinica Romero serves are uninsured and undocumented.
Communities of color — and poorer county residents in general — are experiencing a disproportionate share of coronavirus cases. Latino residents have had the most coronavirus deaths of any racial/ethnic group in L.A.
Sponsored message
Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
