District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said health disparities date back to slavery. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., on Sunday said the coronavirus pandemic is casting a “spotlight” on health disparities among African Americans as early data suggests the virus is disproportionately affecting black and brown Americans.
“We know, and this virus has put a stoplight, on the disproportionate number of African Americans who suffer from chronic disease and it’s also put a spotlight on the health disparities that have plagued African Americans for generations,” Bowser said on “Fox News Sunday.”
She added that these health disparities have their roots in “slavery, racism [and] Jim Crow roles and laws.”
While preliminary data shows the coronavirus is hitting minority communities especially hard, spotty government data collection and publication could prevent resources from flowing to the communities most ravaged by the pandemic. Congressional Democrats, led by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, are pushing for provisions to address racial and ethnic disparities in a potential “phase four” coronavirus relief package.
Bowser, whose city is among major metropolitan areas including New Orleans and Detroit thought to be impending Covid-19 hot spots, called for “national and local actions” to address health disparities Sunday.
“While this is not new in the Covid-19 response, it certainly calls for national and local actions that are going to change the trajectory for African American health outcomes in our nation,” Bowser said.
Michelle Lujan Grisham, Democratic governor of New Mexico, also touched on health disparities in combating the coronavirus in a Sunday interview. Native Americans in Lujan Grisham’s state have been disproportionately affected by the disease.
“We know that the social determinants of health — poverty, lack of access to adequate shelter, food, health care — is an aspect that makes this virus and our efforts to combat it and provide productive treatment incredibly challenging,” Lujan Grisham said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Six percent of our population is Native American. Twenty-five percent of our positive Covid-19 cases are Native American.”
“Some of these areas, particularly in the Navajo Nation, you’re in a situation where you’ve got folks living without access to water and electricity. And this creates unique challenges,” the governor said, adding that “I do think actually the [Trump] administration is clear that they need to do more.”
D.C. mayor: Coronavirus casts ‘spotlight’ on African American health disparities
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