UnityPoint-Meriter got involved because the organization already has a homeless outreach program.

“When COVID came along, a lot of our work shifted,” said Lauren Jerzak, an outreach nurse at UnityPoint-Meriter.

With a combination of public health staff and volunteers, Jerzak said, 73 people were tested at the two smaller homeless sites. Next week, Jerzak hopes to test at least half the folks at the Warner Park shelter and The Beacon, both of which serve about 80 people a day. But testing is voluntary.

“We know that the first days might be lower because there’s kind of a level of trust that we need to build in order to get folks to feel like it’s OK,” she said.

The test samples will be processed by Exact Sciences laboratories, and results will be available three to five days after they’ve been collected.

The shelters have already enacted measures to keep the coronavirus at bay and protect the most vulnerable. Mask policies have been in place since the early weeks of the pandemic, temperatures are taken upon entry, social distancing practices are observed, and elderly people and those with medical conditions that might make them susceptible to bad outcomes are being housed in hotel rooms. Those with symptoms are taken to a hotel that is serving as a COVID care unit to await testing by public health staff.