COVID-19 Testing, Vaccine Perceptions, and Trust among Hispanics Residing in an Underserved Community.

The Borderplex region has been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Borderplex residents live in low socioeconomic (SES) neighborhoods and lack access to COVID-19 testing. The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, to implement a COVID-19 testing program in the Borderplex region to increase the number of residents tested for COVID-19, and second, to administer a community survey to identify trusted sources of COVID-19 information and factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake. A total of 4071 community members were tested for COVID-19, and 502 participants completed the survey. COVID-19 testing resulted in 66.8% (n = 2718) positive cases. The community survey revealed that the most trusted sources of COVID-19 information were doctors or health care providers (67.7%), government websites (e.g., CDC, FDA, etc.) (41.8%), and the World Health Organization (37.8%). Logistic regression models revealed several statistically significant predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake such as having a trusted doctor or health care provider, perceiving the COVID-19 vaccine to be effective, and perceiving that the COVID-19 vaccine does not cause side-effects. Findings from the current study highlight the need for utilizing an integrated, multifactorial approach to increase COVID-19 testing and to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake in underserved communities.

Rapid Shift from SARS-CoV-2 Delta to Omicron Sub-Variants within a Dynamic Southern U.S. Borderplex.

COVID-19, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains an ongoing global health challenge. This study analyzed 3641 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples from the El Paso, Texas, community and hospitalized patients over 48 weeks from Fall 2021 to Summer 2022. The binational community along the U.S. southern border was predominantly SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) positive for a 5-week period from September 2021 to January 2022 and quickly transitioned to the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529), which was first detected at the end of December 2021. Omicron replaced Delta as the predominant detectable variant in the community and was associated with a sharp increase in COVID-19 positivity rate, related hospitalizations, and newly reported cases. In this study, Omicron BA.1, BA.4, and BA.5 variants were overwhelmingly associated with S-gene dropout by qRT-PCR analysis unlike the Delta and Omicron BA.2 variants. The study reveals that a dominant variant, like Delta, can be rapidly replaced by a more transmissible variant, like Omicron, within a dynamic metropolitan border city, necessitating enhanced monitoring, readiness, and response from public health officials and healthcare workers.