A group of doctors in Virginia is calling for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to release information about whether black communities are being left behind as the shortage of coronavirus tests continues in the US.
They’re concerned that black communities and other underserved groups might be disproportionately missing out on getting tested for COVID-19, in the absence of data breaking down who’s been tested so far by race and ethnicity.
“We know in the US that there are great discrepancies in not only the diagnosis but the treatment that African Americans and other minorities are afforded. So I want to make sure that in this pandemic, that black and brown people are treated in the same way and that these tests are made available in the same pattern as for white people,” said Dr. Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Virginia…
The doctors say that the deep-seated inequities that disproportionately affect black communities — like a lack of paid sick leave and adequate health insurance, income disparities, and access to medical facilities — can heighten the effects of a crisis like the coronavirus outbreak.
For more information and to read the full article: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/coronavirus-tests-covid-19-black
admin on March 24, 2020