Washington, D.C., will open eight COVID Centers located in each of the eight wards to serve as hubs for District residents to get tested, vaccinated and boosted.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced the establishment of the COVID Centers on Jan. 18 as the District experiences a surge of COVID-19 cases due to the highly transmissible omicron variant. The Centers will provide residents with free COVID-19 vaccinations, PCR tests, at-home testing kits and KN95 masks.
The Centers will serve as a source of stability to District residents who have had to deal with ongoing changes in the locations of testing and vaccination sites since the start of the pandemic, according to Bowser.
“We said from the beginning if you need a test, you can get a test and we are going to be having centers like this across the district that will make sure that residents know exactly where they can go in their communities, to a more permanent facility that is going to be supported by D.C. Health,” Bowser said at a Jan. 18 press conference.
The increased accessibility to testing and vaccinations that the new COVID Centers provide will foster community safety and health in the District, according to Erik Salmi, communications director for D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen of Ward 6.
“The COVID Centers are fantastic,” Salmi wrote in an email to The Hoya. “It’s important to create places where people can go and simply get any need met as it relates to this pandemic. Vaccines? Check. Masks? Check. Tests? Check. The fewer steps we ask residents to make to keep safe, the more successful we can be as a community.”
Access to rapid tests is essential for children under the age of five who are not yet eligible for vaccination, according to Kelly Whittier, communications director for Councilmember Mary Cheh of Ward 3.
“It’s important for all families to have access to these rapid tests, so they can keenly check to make sure that when they send their children to school they’re sending them to a safe environment and so that their child isn’t putting others at risk,” Whittier said in an interview with The Hoya.
Seven of the eight wards have successfully opened their respective COVID Centers as of Feb. 2, with the city planning to wrap up lease negotiations to open the Ward 3 COVID Center on Friday, according to Whittier.
Testing will continue to play a vital role in keeping District schools open for its youngest students, Whitter added.
“They’ve gotten really great feedback,” Whittier said. “It’s great because you can come in, say you wanted to get a booster, and you could leave with multiple testing kits and masks. If you came in with a partner or family member or friend, essentially whatever your need is can be met right in the community, and so that level of accessibility is super important.”
Providing indispensable resources to the local communities, the COVID Centers are the newest installment in the District’s plan to fight COVID-19, according to Whitter. The centralized nature of the sites’ locations make them valuable tools for combating rising positivity rates, Whitter said.
Although the changing nature of the virus and the spread of new variants will continue to be an ongoing concern, the new COVID Centers are prepared to adapt and adjust, according to Salmi.
“We don’t know what the future will look like with this virus,” Salmi wrote. “We have no idea if we’ll need additional boosters, different tests. But having the infrastructure to be able to respond quickly as we need to is really important.”
