As covid-19 devastated communities across the nation in spring 2020, a group of Black ministers in this racially divided city made an urgent plea for more testing in their neighborhoods.
Testing at the time "was outside of communities of color," said the Rev. Jordan Boyd, pastor of Rockwell AME Zion Church in Charlotte. For Boyd, pandemic losses were personal: Covid-related complications killed a brother-in-law who worked as a truck driver. "We saw what was happening with our folks."
"There were a lot of hurdles that you had to go through," said Boyd, who helped spearhead the effort to bring testing to Black churches. "I said we had to send resources tomorrow, not next month," Mack said. "She started crying. I was so passionate about our people dying. Once she understood the severity of the situation, she did what she had to do."
She also repeatedly urged personal responsibility to contain the spread of the virus, underscoring how public health messaging often focuses on choice rather than societal constraints, said Anne Sosin, a researcher at Dartmouth College who focuses on health equity. On May 14, 2020 — two months after the national emergency was declared — Cohen's agency directed clinicians to prioritize testing for people from "racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately affected by adverse COVID-19 outcomes," and officials recommended using mobile testing for "vulnerable populations," documents show.
Black people, immigrants, and ethnic minorities disproportionately hold jobs that governments deemed essential — in food processing plants, retail stores, and nursing homes — and they were unable to isolate and work from home, Milliken Bonds said. Tensions rose In April 2020, when covid tests were scarce nationally and states had little federal support, Cohen's Department of Health and Human Services convened a work group to increase testing. The initiative began as Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper indicated he would ease the restrictions he'd put in place in March to limit covid's spread.
Related StoriesAs the state began reopening businesses in early May, officials knew testing levels were not adequate, according to a review of public documents, interviews, and Cohen's public remarks. Hundreds of sites were up and running, "but there's more to do," Cohen said May 20. In Charlotte, he said, fixed testing sites at hospitals and elsewhere, which required appointments, weren't as accessible for those in the city's poorest neighborhoods. "You had to go online and sign up," he said.
Kinsley said the state's response "was intentionally designed to be conscious of class and race and ethnicity," which he said informed its guidance for essential workers and efforts to push businesses to provide paid leave and on-the-job covid tests. The state's response "was not adequate for protecting essential workers," said the Rev. Rodney Sadler, the director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation at Union Presbyterian Seminary.
If you don't set up "race-conscious and class-conscious policy," Jarrell said, "the system is always going to serve people who have more resources."
Danmark Seneste Nyt, Danmark Overskrifter
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