California– Our communities continue to adjust to a new “normal” as COVID-19 cases in recent weeks have spiked in this state as well as across the country. Low-income populations, who are often essential workers and must continue to work, as well as communities of color, who suffer from comorbidities and often live in larger households, have been disparately affected by COVID-19 infection and death rates. According to the California Department of Public Health, over 13,000 Asian Americans and over 1300 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) across California have tested positive for COVID-19. Relative to their total population size, NHPIs has been one of the most disproportionately impacted groups by COVID-19. In Los Angeles County, the death rate due to COVID-19 for Pacific Islanders is 12 higher than whites, 9 times higher than Asians, 7 times higher than Latinos, and 5 times higher than for African Americans. We must make sure all communities can get the health coverage and health care they need now more than ever. On Tuesday, July 14th, ARI’s Policy Director, Doreena Wong, joined Peter Lee, Executive Director at Covered California, the health insurance marketplace, as a speaker at Covered California’s “API Media Roundtable to Discuss the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Ongoing Special Enrollment Period.” Covered California can provide financial subsidies to help pay for premiums and the deadline to sign up for Covered CA health coverage is July 31, 2020. Medi-Cal provides free or low-cost health coverage for low-income individuals making less than about $18,000/year or $37,000/year for a family of four and has no deadline. During the event, Wong shared the following, “Please get health coverage if you don’t already have it. This is a very dangerous time to be without any health coverage in case you get the coronavirus or get sick. If you are suffering from COVID-19, please get tested and treated – any testing, treatment, and vaccine (when available) is free.” With the sharp increase in cases in recent weeks, we need to stand together, remain vigilant, and be more proactive to combat the spread of COVID-19 across our communities. We urge our state and local elected officials to boldly stand up for our communities by adequately equipping our front line workers with personal protective equipment (PPE), increase the availability of testing and testing kit production and conduct critical contact tracing to decrease the curve and gain control of the pandemic. Although the threatened shutdown of testing sites in Sacramento has been reversed, testing sites serving communities of color who have been disproportionately suffering from infection and death rates should be added and located where they live and seek services as soon as possible. Now is the time to expand testing sites, especially those that serve communities of color, limited English proficient, and low-income communities as the incidence of COVID-19 is surging. Community-based organizations can assist with the important contact tracing efforts across the state to slow the spread of COVID-19. We call on our community partners and members to educate our AANHPI communities and other communities of color who may not as readily have access to timely COVID-19 information due to cultural and linguistic barriers and take the following actions: