User:Oscurojon/Covid-19 Illinois Sandbox

Copied from COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois

Racial inequality
In early April, a number of news organizations analyzed data provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, and the Chicago Department of Public Health showing that African Americans experienced a disproportionately higher death rate due to the virus. African Americans accounted for 42% of coronavirus-related deaths and 30% of confirmed cases statewide, despite only comprising 14% of the state's population. In Cook County, African Americans accounted for 58% of deaths while comprising 23% of the population. A similar pattern emerged in the city of Chicago, where 72% of deaths and 53% of confirmed cases were African Americans, who make up 30% of the city's population. Likewise, throughout all of 2020, Latinos have had higher rates of testing positive for Covid-19 than other ethnicities, from 20% higher on May 3,2020 to only 3% higher in June''. ''  On April 16, the Cook County government launched a dashboard with regularly updated information on coronavirus-related deaths, disaggregated by race.

On April 6, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a plan to address the racially disproportionate impact of COVID-19, proposing surveillance of grocery and corner stores, increase bus service to the city's South and West sides, and a "racial equity rapid-response team." On April 9, a group of progressive African American activists and elected officials (including Chicago Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, Cook County Board Commissioner Brandon Johnson, and Illinois House Rep. Sonya Harper) called for a range of policy reforms to address this racial inequality. Their demands included a rent and mortgage holiday, a freeze on utility payments, increases in paid sick leave and hazard pay, an end to cash bonds. They also called for a stop to the use of the pandemic as an "excuse to double-down on racist policing," reporting that residents of heavily black neighborhoods in Chicago were being told about a 5pm curfew and being ticketed and detained for being outside.

Statistics data tracked through mid-May revealed that black people accounted for 25% of US deaths despite only making up about 13% of the US population; Hispanics made up 24% of deaths while only making up about 18.5% of the population; and white people accounted for 35% despite making up roughly 60% of the population. The AMA Center for Health Equity released a report in October listing structural and social determinants that contributed to Latinx population's higher rates of infection and death. Federal public health officials released a new strategy addressing inequalities, and officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarified earlier messaging to emphasize that the disproportionately high impact of COVID-19 on minority groups is not due to genetics but rather social conditions that place people of color at higher risk for exposure and serious illness. Reasons cited include working in industries with no sick pay, front line jobs where working from home is impossible, multi-generational and multi-family accommodation, and insufficient space to isolate or quarantine. Combined, academics have referred to these factors as 'structural vulnerability'; Blacks, Latinos, and other marginalized groups are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19 and may have access to fewer resources to mitigate its effects. Within the Latino community, additional factors are language barriers, translation difficulties, fear of deportation, and invisibility in national discourse and rhetoric.

Although Covid-19 vaccinations began in December 2020, black and Latino populations are not vaccinated at the same rates as whites, and their neighborhoods continue to have more Covid-19 deaths as of February 2021. According to the Chicago Tribune, blacks and Latinos are getting vaccinated at half the amount as whites, due to factors such as language/technological barriers, healthcare deserts, and lack of social importance. Although the governor said their administration was focusing on improving vaccination access alongside the Illinois National Guard, community leaders such as Rev. Emma Lozano of Pilsen’s Lincoln United Methodist Church have remained skeptical.