In August, the PA Health Department in partnership with Latino Connection announced the first-in-the-nation COVID-19 Mobile Response Unit, which has since traveled the commonwealth providing free COVID-19 testing and education.
Known as CATE, Community-Accessible Testing & Education, the unit is equipped to conduct COVID-19 testing on-site through a mobile RV vehicle while also educating the public on how to stay healthy and safe.
The mobile response unit’s tagline is “Sharing knowledge to erase fear,” which it intends to do through widespread community healthcare and health education offered with no insurance required.
Targeting minority and undeserved communities throughout Pennsylvania, CATE visited Berks County in early September and October stopping at the YMCA in Sinking Spring, Glenside Elementary School, and downtown Reading.
In an announcement this week, CATE will be making a third stop in Berks County Saturday in the City of Reading. The mobile response unit will be at Oakbrook Homes from 10-12pm, and in downtown Reading at 6th and Penn from 1-3pm.
Testing will be administered by Penn State Health St. Joseph nurses. Specimens will be collected and taken to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Laboratories for testing.
Services are available on a first come, first serve basis. Social distancing and masking guidelines and will be followed at all times. While each tour stop provider’s policies are different, most providers, if not short on testing supplies, will test anyone who believes they’ve been exposed to COVID. Other providers may only test those who are experiencing symptoms.
