COVID Community-Engaged Testing in Alabama: Reaching Underserved Rural Populations Through Collaboration

Abstract

Rural communities are often underserved by public health testing initiatives in Alabama. As part of the National Institutes of Health's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations initiative, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with community partners, sought to address this inequity in COVID-19 testing. We describe the participatory assessment, selection, and implementation phases of this project, which administered more than 23 000 COVID-19 tests throughout the state, including nearly 4000 tests among incarcerated populations.