AILSA CHANG, HOST:
And now the story of three doctors, black women from three hard-hit cities - New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Each is trying to bring free antibody testing and telehealth services to marginalized communities, communities without broad access to health care. NPR's Leila Fadel reports from a mobile rapid testing site just outside Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: One, two, three.
MARILYN ARRINGTON: See, Scooty (ph)? Wasn't that bad.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Marilyn Arrington holds her ring finger up to a medical volunteer in a parking lot. He draws blood and drops the sample into a plastic cup with her contact information. The test is supposed to detect antibodies that show an infection or past exposure to the coronavirus, although the tests are new, have mixed results and many warn can't diagnose an early infection.
ARRINGTON: I haven't been in the room with my family for three weeks.
FADEL: Arrington is diabetic, 73, and had open heart surgery, so she's been in her bedroom alone. Her daughters won't visit. Her granddaughter and her great grandson Josiah live with her but stay away for fear of making her sick. They're all trying to get tested. Josiah's in the back seat. The doctor said he doesn't need a test.
ARRINGTON: It's killing me 'cause, you know, I need to talk to people, see people. I want to hug him and do things with him, helping with his homework and stuff. And right now, I can't.
FADEL: Getting test results...
ARRINGTON: That means that I can get out of my room - finally.
FADEL: And the family can be together. Arrington and her family didn't try to get tested before because they didn't know how. While diagnostic testing for the infection has expanded in LA County, like most places, it's limited. And there's a backlog of needed swabs. And while Los Angeles County is offering free testing, because Arrington hasn't had symptoms, she'd be screened out despite her underlying conditions. It's why NanaEfua Afoh-Manin and two other ER doctors started myCovidMD, organized through the nonprofit she founded, Shared Harvest Fund, to get tests and telehealth services to the communities that typically don't have access. That lack of access, Afoh-Manin says, is why she thinks COVID-19 seems to disproportionately impact black Americans.
NANAEFUA AFOH-MANIN: When America catches the cold, black America catches the flu. Unfortunately a lot of black Americans and all the minorities are uninsured and underinsured. They're the working class. Because of that, they don't have access to a lot of resources. And the No. 1 luxury right now is telemedicine.
FADEL: Her voice is muffled because she's wearing a mask and a face shield. Other doctors in other cities are consulting via video chat on tablets held up by volunteers. Afoh-Manin says, pre-COVID-19, the ER was the place people went when they didn't have a doctor or resources. Now they're being told to stay away.
AFOH-MANIN: So I had to create somebody for them to call - wanted to make sure those who fell out of the safety net were caught.
FADEL: Right now, the tests are paid for with private donations and crowd funding. And if people test positive, they're paired with a crisis buddy to help them navigate treatment and services. LA County is also working to expand testing in underserved neighborhoods. At county hospitals, access to diagnostic testing has been the biggest challenge. Christina Ghaly is LA County's director of health services. She says the vast majority of patients at the hospitals she oversees live below the poverty line.
CHRISTINA GHALY: This COVID-19 crisis has exposed many of the gaps in our health care system and in our public health system and, frankly, in our society that were always there. They have just exposed them and exposed them for the raw ugliness that they are in terms of unequal access to services.
FADEL: And she says how communities of color often don't have access to treatment based on just where they live and what resources are available. She says, post-pandemic, she hopes the public takes a vested interest in making the system more equitable for all.
Leila Fadel, NPR News, Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
