Omaha is on the verge of losing its COVID-19 test site in south Omaha. The site at 50th and G tests nearly 300 people a day, but unless action is taken it will soon end.
“It creates a huge void right at a time when we are likely going to need it in our community,” Andrea Skolkin, CEO of OneWorld Community Health Centers in South Omaha, tells 6 News.
OneWorld has been working with Nebraska Medicine and the Douglas County Health Department to provide testing at the site since June, which is set to close at the end of August.
“After Aug. 20, there is not planned another testing site,” Skolkin says. She tells 6 news the decision to close the site comes down to staffing.
“Nebraska Medicine and sometimes UNMC faculty have been staffing it,” Skolkin says. “And they need to go back to their jobs. That’s the reason it’s closing. It’s not from lack of wanting to do it.”
OneWorld has been urging the state to set up a test site in South Omaha similar to the one at 50th and G, which unlike TestNebraska does not require people to fill out an online form. Skolkin says the online component is a major barrier to testing for many in the South Omaha community,
The state has provided funds for OneWorld to ramp up its own testing come September, but that can only go so far.
“For us, we’re able to test our patients and a handful of others,” said Skolkin. “However the general public needs a place to go to get tested.”
Hispanic people continue to make up nearly 50 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Douglas County and with children headed back to school, Skolkin fears OneWorld won’t be able to keep up with testing.
“If by chance the disease spreads widely we won’t be able to handle it all.”
6 News reports the governor’s office are in conversations with OneWorld about bringing a TestNebraska site to South Omaha to help fill the void once the 50th and G streets site closes.
(Photo: 6 News)