State health officials address racial disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on April 10, 2020
Gov. JB Pritzker with the daily update on COVID-19. (WJBC file photo)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – One of the stories the coronavirus pandemic is carrying with it – the disproportionate effect on blacks. More than a third of blacks and Hispanics tested are positive. Only 18 percent of whites tested are positive.

The state’s public health director, Dr Ngozi Ezike, says one cause is longstanding institutionalized racism, but that’s not all.

Factors include “having jobs that put people at higher risk of exposure. Being underinsured or uninsured. Lacking access to regular medical care; and the fact that black populations potentially live in extended family settings,” Ezike told the state’s daily coronavirus briefing Friday. “The state is working on alternative housing in communities of color to address some of these challenges.”

And Gov. JB Pritzker committed to more testing in communities of color.

The state announced 1,465 new cases for a total of 17,887 – and 68 more deaths to make 596.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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