Many COVID Test-Seekers Lost in Translation at City-Run Testing Sites, Say Staff


In the run-up to the start of the 2020-21 school year, New York City Health + Hospitals ran COVID testing sites that each were supposed to provide telephone links to language interpreters in more than 200 languages. More than 40% of all NYC school students live in homes where English is not the primary language. In many cases, the test site staffs could not make use of the translation service, either because the phones were inaccessible or the service took too long to gain access to.

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