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renegade.bio Teams Up with Umoja Health/BayPLS and Alameda County, California for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Testing in Underserved Bay Area Communities

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Photo by Mike Kai Chen

Covid-19 Testing at Recent Bay Area Event

“The important work we are doing with Umoja Health and Alameda County gets to the heart of the reason we started renegade.bio – to make testing and services accessible to all.”


SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB)

renegade.bio announced today that it is working with Umoja Health/BayPLS and Alameda County to support COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts for African American and other underserved communities in the Bay Area. Renegade has been providing COVID-19 testing since June 2020 at 750 Aileen Street, Oakland, CA, 94609 and will now provide infrastructure for vaccine distributions on Thursdays and Fridays starting on April 1, 2021.

“As a public benefit corporation, renegade.bio is committed to the communities we serve and we are excited to offer both vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 testing in one convenient location,” said Craig Rouskey, CEO, renegade.bio.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that African Americans are 1.4 times more likely to contract COVID-19 compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Data from California’s state public health department shows the Latinx population is also disproportionately affected by the virus with 56 percent of the cases, despite representing only 39 percent of the state’s population.

Umoja Health, an initiative of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and other community health organizations, have been instrumental in reaching underserved communities. “Too many people in minority communities are untested, unreached, and uncounted. Our model at Umoja is to bring the clinics to the people and make it easy to get services for COVID-19 diagnosis and prevention,” said Kim Rhoads, MD, MS, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Director, Office of Community Engagement at UCSF. “renegade.bio is helping to facilitate that approach and we are grateful for their support.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, renegade.bio has tested more than 76,000 people using the company’s EUA-permitted PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In addition, their work with local governments, the company has run COVID-19 testing programs for the NBA and the San Francisco Giants.

“The important work we are doing with Umoja Health and Alameda County gets to the heart of the reason we started renegade.bio – to make testing and services accessible to all,” said Salu Ribeiro, MSc co-founder and director, renegade.bio and BayPLS.

“We are honored to partner with Umoja Health/BayPLS, Alameda County and UCSF to increase vaccine availability and testing in underserved communities,” Craig Rouskey, CEO, renegade.bio

For more information about the testing and vaccination location and hours, visit https://www.testthepeople.org/

About renegade.bio

As a public benefit corporation, renegade.bio is accelerating humanity’s capacity to test for novel pathogens such as COVID-19. The company empowers an overburdened public health system to respond swiftly to epidemiologic crises by delivering fast, reliable, cost-effective solutions for community-based triage. In collaboration with other laboratories, researchers, and organizations across the ecosystem of public health, renegade.bio is working day and night with a singular goal to make COVID-19 testing accessible to everyone regardless of income. renegade.bio holds a LGBT-Owned Business Enterprise Certification from the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. For more information about the company and products, visit https://www.renegade.bio/

About Umoja Health

Umoja Health (United in Health Oakland) is part of the UCSF COVID-19 Community Public Health Initiative, which aims to address and improve access to both testing and vaccination to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in minority communities with high rates of infection, hospitalization and death. Umoja Health uses innovative strategies to deliver COVID-19 testing and vaccination at pop-up events, with locations determined by, and for the Black and African American residents of Alameda County, with a focus on East Oakland which has one of the highest rates of infection and death in the county.

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