Expanding access to COVID-19 tests through US postal service facilities
Expanding access to COVID-19 tests through US postal service facilities
Widespread, convenient access to COVID-19 testing has been challenging in the United States. We make a case for provisioning COVID-19 tests through the United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities and demonstrate a simple method for selecting locations to improve access. We provide quantitative evidence that even a subset of USPS facilities could provide broad access, particularly in remote and at-risk communities with limited access to health care. Based on daily travel surveys, census data, locations of USPS facilities, and an established care-seeking model, we estimate that more than 94% of the US population would be willing to travel to an existing USPS facility if warranted. For half of the US population, this would require traveling less than 2.5 miles from home; for 90%, the distance would be less than 7 miles. In Georgia, Illinois, and Minnesota, we estimate that testing at USPS facilities would provide access to an additional 4.1, 3.1, and 1.3 million people and reduce the median travel distance by 3.0, 0.8, and 1.2 miles, respectively, compared with existing testing sites per 28 July 2020. We also discuss the option of distributing test-at-home kits via USPS instead of private carriers. Finally, our proposal provides USPS an opportunity to increase revenues and expand its mission, thus improving its future prospects and relevance.
COVID-19, optimization, testing, underserved populations, USPS
3-8
Singh, Bismark
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Risanger, Simon
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Morton, David
3e053a27-b1bb-4764-b807-c6ab0a133bbe
Pignone, Michael
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Meyers, Lauren Ancel
4f9ada54-8b4c-4607-ad88-dafb19fa06b3
30 October 2020
Singh, Bismark
9d3fc6cb-f55e-4562-9d5f-42f9a3ddd9a1
Risanger, Simon
c6a71850-0f4c-4cef-9b00-c0e143c8ede5
Morton, David
3e053a27-b1bb-4764-b807-c6ab0a133bbe
Pignone, Michael
e598585c-a874-4582-b7d4-ab263f02a9a5
Meyers, Lauren Ancel
4f9ada54-8b4c-4607-ad88-dafb19fa06b3
Singh, Bismark, Risanger, Simon, Morton, David, Pignone, Michael and Meyers, Lauren Ancel
(2020)
Expanding access to COVID-19 tests through US postal service facilities.
Medical Decision Making, 41 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/0272989X20969690).
Abstract
Widespread, convenient access to COVID-19 testing has been challenging in the United States. We make a case for provisioning COVID-19 tests through the United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities and demonstrate a simple method for selecting locations to improve access. We provide quantitative evidence that even a subset of USPS facilities could provide broad access, particularly in remote and at-risk communities with limited access to health care. Based on daily travel surveys, census data, locations of USPS facilities, and an established care-seeking model, we estimate that more than 94% of the US population would be willing to travel to an existing USPS facility if warranted. For half of the US population, this would require traveling less than 2.5 miles from home; for 90%, the distance would be less than 7 miles. In Georgia, Illinois, and Minnesota, we estimate that testing at USPS facilities would provide access to an additional 4.1, 3.1, and 1.3 million people and reduce the median travel distance by 3.0, 0.8, and 1.2 miles, respectively, compared with existing testing sites per 28 July 2020. We also discuss the option of distributing test-at-home kits via USPS instead of private carriers. Finally, our proposal provides USPS an opportunity to increase revenues and expand its mission, thus improving its future prospects and relevance.
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Published date: 30 October 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Financial support for this study was provided in part by the National Institutes of Health under grant NIH R01 AI151176 and grant NIH U01 GM087791, the US Department of Homeland Security under grant 2017-ST-061-QA0001 and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the US Department of Homeland Security. The funding agreement ensured the authors’ independence in designing the study, interpreting the data, writing, and publishing the report.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords:
COVID-19, optimization, testing, underserved populations, USPS
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481048
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481048
ISSN: 0272-989X
PURE UUID: b3bc1c92-09fc-447a-9b05-2ca0823c026f
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Date deposited: 15 Aug 2023 16:41
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:08
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Contributors
Author:
Bismark Singh
Author:
Simon Risanger
Author:
David Morton
Author:
Michael Pignone
Author:
Lauren Ancel Meyers
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