Black Americans are disproportionatelycontracting and dying from COVID-19. It’s no different in Connecticut, where about 12% of the state’s population is black, but the rates of infections and deaths are higher when compared to white residents, according to data that includes a patient's race or ethnicity.
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Tekisha Dwan Everette is executive director of Health Equity Solutions in Hartford, Connecticut, an organization that promotes equal health care access, delivery and outcomes. Everette told NEXT the virus is shining a bright light on systemic health inequities that existed long before the pandemic.
“It’s important to connect to the fact that historically speaking, we have disinvested — or even, I would dare say, use the word oppressed — people of color’s opportunity to gain their highest and most optimal health,” Everette said.
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