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Fighting racial disparities when it comes to COVID-19

Black, Brown communities hit hard by virus

DETROIT – When the COVID-19 outbreak began, the virus hit Black and Brown communities hard with unspeakable losses.

Since April, the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities has been working to eliminate the impact COVID-19 has had on communities of color.

READ: What role are Michigan schools playing in spread of COVID-19?

They’ve made progress by making testing more accessible for communities of color, including drive-thru, walk-up and mobile testing sites. They’ve helped people find primary care physicians, handed out millions of masks and reminded people to wear them through marketing.

They also recommended implicit bias training be a requirement for all medical professionals. The data showed early on that it was working -- but now, with cases going up -- will it be enough? Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist heads the task force.

READ: Whitmer congratulates Biden-Harris on victory, places focus on COVID pandemic

“I think the recommendations that we made will continue to need to be implemented as they happen,” Gilchrist said. “And I thank the public servants and say government and the partners for who’ve stepped up to do that. We just funded another 20 million pounds with the projects called Rapid Response Initiatives.”

The task force also recommended that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declare racism a public health crisis in the state. Gilchrist said this gave every state department permission to revisit their policies and their impact. He said when you can name it and quantify it, then the conversations can be had about what reform looks like.

READ: More COVID-19 coverage


About the Authors
Kimberly Gill headshot

You can watch Kimberly Gill weekdays anchoring Local 4 News at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and streaming live at 10 p.m. on Local 4+. She's an award-winning journalist who finally called Detroit home in 2014. Kim has won Regional Emmy Awards, and was part of the team that won the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast in 2022.

Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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