December 04, 2020

Buzzfeed News: Elizabeth Warren And Ayanna Pressley Want To Know How Badly The US Pandemic Response Failed People Of Color

Nine months into the coronavirus pandemic, “It is not clear whether that relief has successfully reached the communities that are most impacted.”

The US government needs to investigate whether Black, Latino, and Native American communities most impacted by the pandemic have received adequate coronavirus relief funds, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley wrote to the Government Accountability Office.

“To date, the federal government has spent trillions of dollars to sustain our health system and mitigate the economic fallout during this public health emergency. However, it is not clear whether that relief has successfully reached the communities that are most impacted,” the lawmakers stated in their letter, shared first with BuzzFeed News.

The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people of color. Data from the CDC shows that of COVID-19 cases in which the race is known, Latinx people represent about 24% of cases in the US but 19% of the population, and Black people are about 14% of cases and 13% of the population. States with large Native American populations — New Mexico, Wyoming, and South Dakota, for instance — are seeing higher rates in those communities than overall. Demographic data about the pandemic is incomprehensive, however, and the impact on minority populations may be even greater than these data reveal.

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Read the full article on Buzzfeed News here.



By:  Venessa Wong
Source: Buzzfeed News