Earlier this summer, in the face of an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the California Legislature took decisive action through the fiscal 2020-21 budget process to guarantee that California’s health care delivery system was not abandoned in the face of bleak fiscal projections.
Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle here.
The group recommends institutionalizing voter mobilization and education as a government function, increasing Latinos’ access to capital to spur business and job creation, universal health coverage, more equitable COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and treatment, a pipeline for Latinos and other underserved workers into clean energy and the green economy, progressive immigration reform, an immediate and indefinite moratorium on deportations and universal access to preschool.
State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, AltaMed CEO Castulo de la Rocha, California Primary Care Association CEO Carmela Castellano-Garcia and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund President Thomas A. Saenz were also part of the group that put together the agenda.
Read more in the Voice of San Diego here.
Some providers, like those at health centers, have been trying to do more of their own testing, but struggle to get tests, said Carmela Castellano Garcia, the CEO of the California Primary Care Association, which represents the state’s health centers.
While some have adequate supplies, she said, health centers in areas like south central Los Angeles have reported having only 10 tests on hand at a time. “That means they’re getting hundreds of calls from people wanting to be tested who they cannot accommodate,” she said.
Read more in CalMatters
Carmela Castellano-Garcia, President and CEO of the California Primary Care Association discusses the role of community health centers in the age of COVID.
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