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Free COVID Testing To Be Offered To Latrobe Homes Residents After Elevated Levels Detected In Wastewater

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Housing Authority of Baltimore detected elevated COVID-19 levels in wastewater at Latrobe Homes.

The agency is using that information to notify residents at Latrobe Homes that one or more residents or visitors who have recently used the restroom may have contracted coronavirus.

The Baltimore City Health Department is recommending anyone who lives at Latrobe Homes to get a COVID test. The free testing will be offered March 2-4 from noon to 3 p.m. at the daycare center near Ashland Court.

HABC is urging residents to wear masks, social distance and avoid large gatherings to prevent spread.

"Protecting our residents' health and wellbeing is our number one job," said HABC President and CEO Janet Abrahams. "This innovative detection program is working exactly the way we had hoped it would, giving us a chance to stop a spread before it starts."

Inspectors have been testing at Housing Authority of Baltimore City communities for more than two months. This is the first time an elevated COVID level was detected in wastewater at Latrobe Homes.

"We have all been encouraged to see the number of COVID cases drop nationally and in Maryland in recent weeks, but we are not letting down our guard. That is why I am asking everyone in the Latrobe community to take the short time needed next week to receive a test," Abrahams said.

For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.

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