Partnerships agencies increase COVID-19 testing and tracing
Information provided by Douglas County School District and Douglas County
Governmental entities in Douglas County recently secured partnerships enabling more access to COVID-19 testing across the county.
The Douglas County School District (DCSD) announced its partnership with COVIDCheck Colorado (CCC), a social benefit enterprise of the Gary Community Investment Company. CCC was created to help organizations navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the district’s health and safety plans to return to school and work, CCC will provide teachers and staff access to testing on a voluntary basis at no cost to participants. School-based staff may schedule a test every two weeks at a designated site throughout the Denver metro area. Results will be available within 72 hours or less.
The Board of Douglas County Commissioners unanimously approved up to $3 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding for community testing and case contract tracing to assist in the containment of local COVID-19 transmission in the County.
Approval came in the form of the County’s intergovernmental agreement with the Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) for testing and case investigation, as well as a separate contract with STRIDE Community Health Center to administer COVID-19 testing via a mobile unit.
These combined actions aim to keep the County’s COVID-19 transmission rate low and meet the TCHD recommendation of 515 tests per day in Douglas County.
“We recognize the huge step forward in the containment of COVID-19 with these two decisions,” said Board Chair Commissioner Roger Partridge. “We look forward to our partnership with STRIDE and our continued relationship with the Tri-County Health as our public health services provider, now and into the foreseeable future,” he continued.
The STRIDE Community Health Center will enable traditional and rapid diagnostic testing, as well as antibody testing, via mobile testing events at locations throughout the County. Those with and without insurance coverage who live or work in Douglas County are eligible to receive testing.
To learn more about COVIDCheck Colorado, visit www.covidcheckcolorado.org. To learn more about COVID-19 testing in Douglas County, visit https://www.douglas.co.us/covid19-testing/. To learn more about testing with TCHD, visit https://www.tchd.org/827/Testing-for-COVID-19.
