UCSF Expands Testing Study to Bayview, Sunnydale, Visitacion Valley

UCSF will begin providing COVID-19 testing to three areas in San Francisco that have been hard hit by the pandemic, the university said Thursday.

Testing will be made available in the Bayview, Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods as part of a partnership between UCSF, San Francisco and the state of California.

Residents in these areas have been "disproportionately affected by higher rates of contraction and spread of COVID-19," and have seen existing issues, like homelessness, unemployment and food access exacerbated by the pandemic, the university said in a press release.

As with previous research conducted by UCSF in San Francisco's Mission District, the new study will seek to understand the local impacts of the virus.

Testing in the Bayview will take place over this weekend, May 30-31, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., at the Leola M. Havard Early Education School.

Testing for Sunnydale and Visitacion Valley will be held on June 1-2 at Herz Playground in McLaren Park from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The goal, according to UCSF, is to test 800 individuals over the four-day period.

A separate effort to test homeless individuals in the Bayview neighborhood is also underway. Those tests will take place on June 6-7 at a location to be determined.

— Michelle Wiley (@MichelleEWiley)