Free community testing for COVID-19 continues.

The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:

• Thursday, Sept. 23, 4 to 6 p.m., Randolph Community Center, 1415 Grayland Ave.

• Tuesday, Sept. 28, 9 to 11 a.m., Second Baptist Church of South Richmond, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd., drive-thru testing.

• Wednesday, Sept. 29, 9 to 11 a.m., Eastern Henrico Recreation Center Pavilion, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave.

Appointments are not necessary, but can be made by calling the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by registering online at https://bit.ly/RHHDCOVID.

Testing will be offered while test supplies last.

COVID-19 testing also is available at various drug stores, clinics and urgent care centers throughout the area for people with and without health insurance. Several offer tests with no out-of-pocket costs.

A list of area COVID-19 testing sites is online at https://www. vdh.virginia.gov/richmond-city/richmond-and-henrico-area- covid-19-testing-sites/

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID- 19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites/.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering

free walk-up COVID-19 vaccines at the following locations:

• Thursday, Sept. 23, 1 to 4:30 p.m. – Richmond Health District Cary Street Clinic, 400 E. Cary St., Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

• Friday, Sept. 24, 8 to 11 a.m. – Henrico West Health

Department Clinic, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

• Tuesday, Sept. 28, 3 to 6 p.m. – Second Baptist Church of South Richmond, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd., Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

• Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1 to 4:30 p.m. – Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave., Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson; 3 to 6 p.m. – Clark Springs Elementary School, 1101 Dance St., Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

• Thursday, Sept. 30, 1 to 4:30 p.m. – Richmond Health District Cary Street Clinic, 400 E. Cary St., Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Children ages 12 to 17 may only receive the Pfizer vaccine.

Appointments are not required, but individuals can schedule an appointment online at vax.rchd.com or by calling (804) 205-3501.

VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine.

The United States has reached another grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 675,000 deaths. That surpasses the number who died during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.

Additionally, more than 5 million children in the United States have tested positive for the virus to date. In Virginia, there have been nearly 147,000 positive cases among children, nearly 1,000 hospitalizations and 11 deaths among those under age 12.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is to consider this week emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for use in children ages 5 to 11. Currently, children under age 12 cannot be inoculated. But with schools returning to in-person learning, states across the country are seeing growing numbers of cases and hospitalizations among youngsters.

On Sept. 10, Virginia reached the 800,000 mark of total COVID-19 cases.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Health reported 3,737 new COVID-19 cases for the 24-hour period, with a total of 843,212 cases statewide, 35,933 hospitalizations and 12,409 deaths. The state’s seven-day positivity rate was 9.8 percent. Last week, it was 10.5 percent.

On Wednesday, state health officials reported that 59.6 percent of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated, while 67.1 percent of the people have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

State data also show that African-Americans comprised 22.8 percent of cases statewide and 25.2 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 14.5 percent of cases and 6.3 percent of deaths.