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First of 5 church testing sites for COVID-19 to open in Oak Cliff

Dallas-based Project Unity says the locations will serve the communities that have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus.

The first of five new coronavirus testing sites that are designed to serve some of the Dallas County communities that have been hit hardest by COVID-19 will open Thursday.

Dallas-based Project Unity announced the program, called Together We Test, on Wednesday, saying four more sites — each connected to a church in Dallas County — will open in the next three weeks.

The first walk-up testing site, which will be at the former Friendship-West Baptist Church location in central Oak Cliff at 616 W. Kiest Blvd., will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday.

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That site — and the four that will follow — are intended to be a “long-term commitment to a virus that clearly isn’t planning to leave us anytime soon,” said Richie Butler, a pastor at St. Paul United Methodist Church who founded Project Unity.

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The locations for the four other testing sites have not yet been announced.

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The testing sites will each operate on a different day of the week, as part of a partnership with Catalyst Health Network and Clinical Pathology Laboratories. Each will be able to test up to 250 people a day.

Testing is free, and people may be tested whether or not they have symptoms. COVID-19 antibody tests also will be available for free.

The goal is to reach people who haven’t had adequate access to testing, said Pastor Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor at Friendship-West.

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“To reach many who live in these testing deserts it is essential that we utilize trusted institutions that are situated in proximity to these communities,” he said in a written statement.

An analysis by NPR found that testing sites were concentrated in whiter neighborhoods in Dallas. Northern Dallas has 20 testing sites, compared with nine in southern Dallas, according to the report.

Butler said that the impact of COVID-19 on black people has been “swift, brutal and disproportionately large” and that he hopes Project Unity will help “forge a long-term plan for better health and wellness in communities of color.”

Parking will be available at the Kiest Boulevard location. People who visit are encouraged to wear masks.

Pastor Frederick D. Haynes (left) of Friendship-West Baptist Church of Dallas and Pastor...
Pastor Frederick D. Haynes (left) of Friendship-West Baptist Church of Dallas and Pastor Richie L. Butler (right) of St. Paul United Methodist Church of Dallas pose for a portrait while people wait in line at a free testing site for coronavirus in Dallas, on Thursday, May 28, 2020.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
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