BOSTON
- Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - To help with the return to in-person
learning this fall, the Red Sox, with support from Major League Baseball
(MLB), have partnered with the City of Boston and the Boston Public Health
Commission to facilitate COVID-19 testing for Boston Teachers Union (BTU)
members. Starting
this week, five percent of Teachers Union members will be invited to be
randomly tested weekly for COVID-19 through the end of 2020. The testing
program will begin at a location near Fenway Park and will move to a
different location at a later date. A randomized sample of teachers will be
tested from across the city with an oversampling of teachers working in
neighborhoods with COVID-19 rates higher than 8 percent, which is double
the citywide threshold of concern. "Our
first priority is the health and safety of our students, teachers, and
everyone in our Boston Public Schools community," said Boston Mayor
Martin J. Walsh. "This testing program is one way we can support our
teachers as they get ready to head back to their classrooms for in-person
learning. We thank the Red Sox and Major League Baseball for partnering
with us on this program, and the Boston Public Health Commission for
organizing and implementing this weekly testing plan." "As
part of Major League Baseball's COVID-19 testing program, the league wanted
to ensure there was opportunity to extend their testing benefits beyond the
clubs and players, and into the communities where teams operate," said
Red Sox President Sam Kennedy. "We are grateful to MLB for giving us
this opportunity to partner with the City of Boston and help with their
back-to-school rollout." "As
we plan to welcome students back into our school buildings, BPS understands
that our schools are the hubs of our community and we are taking every
precaution to keep Bostonians safe and healthy," said BPS
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius. "I am so thankful to Major League
Baseball and the Boston Red Sox organization for this profound commitment
to the health of our educators, our students and of the entire community.
In the City of Boston we truly are all in this together." "We
are grateful to the Red Sox and their commitment to helping us ensure
safety and health in our schools during this pandemic," said Boston
Teachers Union President Jessica Tang. "We hope that the early success
of this initiative will enable us to explore further expansion of such
efforts as we continue to keep health and safety a priority for our
students and educators in order to head back into buildings for critical
in-person services and learning." Teachers
Union members will be administered an FDA-authorized COVID-19 test through
the Spectrum Solutions SDNA-100 saliva collection kit. The tests are being
provided to the City free of cost through MLB's COVID-19 community testing
program. Testing will be conducted by the Sports Medicine Research &
Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, which was established to ensure
that the testing of players and staff throughout the 2020 MLB season does
not compete with public health testing needs. The
City of Boston has also continued its work to increase access to testing
for residents throughout Boston's neighborhoods. Yesterday, in partnership
with East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Mayor Walsh announced
that the City of Boston's COVID-19 mobile testing site will now be located
in Grove Hall. This mobile site testing initiative was announced by Mayor
Walsh back in May as a way to help fill any gaps in testing availability,
prioritizing neighborhoods and populations that need dedicated testing
efforts to create equitable access to testing. The site has previously been
located in Roxbury, Allston, South Boston, Mattapan and East Boston. "We
know that access to data is one of the most useful ways to help keep our
city residents safe during this pandemic," said City of Boston Chief
of Health and Human Services Marty Martinez. "This partnership between
MLB, the Red Sox, the Boston Public Health Commission, and the City allows
us to create another access point of testing for our teachers as we all
work to get our youngest Bostonians back into the classroom in a safe
manner this fall." In
addition to the City's mobile testing sites, COVID-19 testing is available
at over 20 locations across the city. Mobile testing sites also continue to
be available at select locations, prioritizing neighborhoods and
populations that need dedicated testing efforts to create equitable access
to testing. Individuals can call the Mayor's Health Line with any questions
using 617-534-5050. For a complete list of all testing sites, visit here. Mayor
Walsh and the Boston Resiliency Fund Steering Committee have dedicated over
$1,794,825 to expand COVID-19 testing and conduct culturally appropriate
outreach and education to community health centers across City of Boston
neighborhoods, including Bowdoin Street Community Health Center, Codman
Square Community Health Center, The Dimock Center, DotHouse Health,
Mattapan Community Health Center, Uphams Corner Community Health Center,
Whittier Street Community Health Center, Charles River Community Health,
Fenway Health, Greater Roslindale Medical & Dental Center, Harbor
Health, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Harvard Street Neighborhood
Health Center, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, South Boston Community
Health Center, NEW Health Charlestown, South End Community Health Center,
and Brookside Community Health Center. The Fund has also supported
telehealth services and equipment at those community health centers as well
to connect testing to safe treatment options at home. Resources
and information about COVID-19 are available online. Resources available on
boston.gov
and through City departments include support for renters and homeowners;
small businesses; free meals for Boston students; free toiletries for
Boston students; support for older residents; information on homeless
shelters; resources for those in recovery or those who have a substance use
disorder; and mental health resources. More information on Boston's
reopening can be found at boston.gov/reopening. For
additional questions or programs, please visit our coronavirus website or
call 3-1-1, Boston's 24-hour constituent hotline. Text BOSCOVID to 888-777
to receive text alerts on a regular basis, available in 11 languages. | 
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