[ [link removed] ]Black and brown communities are being hit harder by  coronavirus
(COVID-19)! 

[ [link removed] ]Paid Family Leave

[ [link removed] ]Join us to demand the CDC collect and share racial data on COVID-19!

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Dear Friend,

As the novel coronavirus changes our everyday lives in ways we could never
have imagined, we are told over and over again how the virus does not
discriminate. Day in and day out we are directed to take protective
measures to ensure the safety of our loved ones and the safety of our
fellow community members. In recent days, we have learned that while
COVID-19 does not discriminate, deep seeded racial inequities that have
historically burdened black and brown communities are ever present in the
way the virus is disproportionately impacting black and brown people. 

[ [link removed] ]Race shouldn't determine whether you live or die from the COVID-19! The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) must collect and make public racial data
on COVID-19, as well as develop guidance for health leaders and hospitals
to close this disparity!

In Milwaukee Wisconsin, African Americans make up 26 percent of the total
population and an unconscionable 70 percent of COVID-19 deaths. Seventy
percent! Similar disparities have emerged in Louisiana, where 70 percent
of the people who have died were black, despite African Americans making
up only 32 percent of the state’s total population. [1] In Michigan,
African Americans comprise 14 percent of the population and are 33 percent
of cases and approximately 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths with more than a
quarter of those cases occurring in Detroit, where African Americans make
up 79 percent of the total population. In Chicago black residents have
died at a rate of SIX TIMES that of white residents and, of the 118
reported deaths in Chicago, close to 70 percent were black.[2]

In New York City, the epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic, Latinx
represent 34 percent of the people who have died of the coronavirus but
make up 29 percent of the city’s population. A study conducted by the New
York City comptroller found that 75 percent of front-line workers in the
city—grocery clerks, bus and train operators, janitors and child care
staff—are minorities. More than 60 percent of people who work as cleaners
are Latinx and more than 40 percent of transit employees are black. [3]
This compounds existing racial and economic inequities in black and brown
communities and puts these communities at an increased risk for
contracting and dying from COVID-19 as the data is starting to show.[4]

[ [link removed] ]We must protect ALL communities from COVID-19: Collecting racial data,
making it public, and developing guidance for health leaders and
hospitals  would help close disparities and do that! 

This shocking review of the limited data available shows that African
Americans and Latinx are dying at rates markedly higher than white
American and while at the highest levels these disproportionate deaths
along racial lines are being noted, the CDC is currently failing to
collect and publicly report on the racial and ethnic demographic
information of patients tested for and affected by COVID-19.[5] The World
Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March
11th—a declaration that should ideally ramp up research and data
collection on the virus with the hopes of stopping the spread. [6] 

Natural disasters and epidemics, and other public health crises aggravate
existing burdens faced by communities of color. In places like Chicago
prior to COVID-19, there were already broad reaching health inequities
amounting to an alarming nine year gap in life expectancy between black
and white communities. [7] We can and HAVE to do better.

According to Aletha Maybank, Chief Health Equity Officer for the American
Medical Association, collecting demographic data is central to
understanding injustice and ensuring the optimal health of people. She
asserts that we must commit to finding ways to structure and standardize
the collection of all types of demographic data, of information not only
about race and ethnicity, but also gender identity, sexual orientation and
preferred language, factors that have made people more vulnerable to the
blows of public health emergencies.[ [link removed] ]

Currently less than a dozen states are collecting any data this includes
data on who receives tests, who tests positive, who is hospitalized, and
who dies. This has to change. We need the CDC to collect and share
demographic data if we want to ease the burden of this global pandemic for
all of us. In addition to demographic data, the CDC must require data
collection for clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines, particularly because
clinical trials have historically excluded black and brown communities.
[ [link removed] ]

If demographic data is not collected, it will make it nearly impossible
for researches and policy makers to identify and address disparities and
health inequities that run the risk of accelerating the impact and spread
of the coronavirus. 

We need the CDC to develop and implement health equity interventions
across all efforts to address this global pandemic. This includes ensuring
that various components of the stimulus require the collection of national
health outcomes data by race, and ensure that all new policies urgently
address these racial disparities. 

[8]Together we can ensure that race is not the factor that determines
whether you live or die from COVID-19. Sign on to demand the CDC to
collect and make public racial data on COVID-19, as well as develop
guidance for health leaders and hospitals to close this disparity!

 

Beatriz, Monifa, Felicia, Kristin and the rest of the MomsRising Team

 

CITATIONS:

[1[2]][9]The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an
alarmingly high rate

[3] [ [link removed] ]Virus Is Twice as Deadly for Black and Latino People Than Whites
in N.Y.C.

[4] [ [link removed] ]What the Racial Data Show

[5] [ [link removed] ]Democratic lawmakers call for racial data in virus testing

[6] [ [link removed] ]Coronavirus: COVID-19 Is Now Officially A Pandemic, WHO Says

[7][8] [ [link removed] ]The Pandemic’s Missing Data

[9] [ [link removed] ]Clinical Trials Have Far Too Little Racial and Ethnic Diversity

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