Politics & Government
As minority COVID-19 cases rise to ‘alarming rate,’ health officials ramp up outreach
With African Americans now making up more than half of the South Carolinians who have died as a result of COVID-19, pressure is increasing for state leaders to place a greater focus on examining why the coronavirus is impacting people of color disproportionately.
The latest call comes from Democratic state Rep. Rosalyn Henderson-Myers, D-Spartanburg, who asked Gov. Henry McMaster on Tuesday to create a task force specifically to address health care in minority communities.
African Americans make up 27% of the state’s population and account for 41% of the positive coronavirus cases, according to the latest figures from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, released Tuesday.
However, black South Carolinians also make up 56% of cases that have resulted in death, the data show.
African Americans are disproportionately impacted by some of the underlying conditions that have affected the severity of the virus, including chronic kidney and cardiovascular diseases, asthma and obesity, DHEC said.
“This coronavirus is impacting South Carolina’s minority communities at an alarming rate,” Henderson-Myers said in a statement announcing her request of the governor.
“Black people are suffering from higher rates of infection and death. This is a disturbing trend, and it will only be stopped if it is addressed in a concerted effort by state leadership.”
State health officials have been working to help correct the problem, DHEC said.
For example, DHEC is working with churches to help communicate prevention, and partnering with environmental justice advocates to raise awareness of the virus and better increasing the availability of public health data.
On top of that, a DHEC spokesperson told The State, the state health agency is working with partners to prioritize counties and regions in South Carolina, particularly the state’s rural areas, to deploy rapid COVID-19 testing machines that can read results within minutes.
Officials also plan to do more faith-based outreach, telebriefings, outreach to older communities and put the state’s epidemiologist Linda Bell on radio and TV to help raise awareness of the disease’s disproportionate impact.
DHEC said Bell plans to sit down for seven interviews this week.
The state’s public health agency as of Tuesday reported 3,553 positive COVID-19 cases, 115 of those cases are new. Health officials also reported that 10 more South Carolinians have died as a result of the coronavirus, marking 97 deaths.
In her statement, Henderson-Myers said a governor-led task force would underscore the importance of minority communities during a public health emergency. The lawmaker said representatives from the state’s Hospital Association, the Department of Health and Environmental Control and faith-based leaders should be included.
In her Upstate county alone, DHEC reported as of Tuesday 190 positive coronavirus cases, while projecting numbers potentially as high as 1,357.
South Carolina’s health officials have recently begun releasing demographic information about cases and deaths tied to the coronavirus. The public release of the data came after health leaders elsewhere noted higher reports of the virus in minorities, particularly African Americans, and after facing pressure from media outlets, state lawmakers and Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of North Charleston.
“As we fight the coronavirus, we are only as strong as the most vulnerable among us,” Henderson-Myers said. “Looking to the future, we must create solutions for more access to medical care, so that these underlying conditions do not act as a barrier to protecting the public health of South Carolina.”
SOUTH CAROLINA CASES OF COVID-19, DW MAP Manually Updated
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