Two recent studies based on COVID testing in San Francisco's Mission District offer some insight into the so-called California variant of the coronavirus, which appears to be becoming more prevalent locally with each week.
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uz María Abonce arrived in San Jose more than 15 years ago. Over time, she’s been to graduations, quinceañeras, workshops and made dozens of friends throughout the eastern part of the city. Now she gets to see many of those neighbors and friends again when she knocks at their door.
“We go out into the streets, eager to knock on some doors. Sometimes they open the door for us, sometimes they don’t. But there we are, offering what we have, COVID-19 tests and information,” she said in Spanish.
Abonce is a promotora, a community outreach health worker with META, Mujeres Emprendedoras Tomando Acción (Entrepreneurial Women Taking Action) and SOMOS Mayfair, two nonprofit organizations that have partnered with Santa Clara County s public health department.
Targeting vulnerable ZIP codes is one way San Francisco and other U.S. cities and counties are trying to ensure they vaccinate people in largely Black, Latino and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of the pandemic.