Report: Coronavirus Pandemic Reveals Racial, Poverty Disparities

LOS ANGELES, CA — St. John's Well Child and Family Center released a report Tuesday on its efforts to combat the pandemic in south and central Los Angeles, asserting that it found "extreme racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. health care, housing and economic security."

"COVID-19 has revealed the extreme racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. health care, housing, and economic security," said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John's Well Child and Family Center.

To date, St. John's has tested over 25,000 primarily Latinx and Black community members for COVID-19, Mangia said.

"From Day One of dealing with the pandemic in South and Central Los Angeles, it was clear that our Latinx and Black neighbors were to shoulder the burden of yet another crisis," Mangia said.

"This moment is a reckoning for all of us about the depth and gravity of structural problems due to systemic racism we have to collectively undo," Mangia said.

"From the fact that our current socio-economic structures still force Black and brown people to live in subpar housing or on the streets; to the fact that workers of color disproportionately hold front-line and 'essential' jobs in our factories, warehouses, and other jobs that must be done in person, do not provide paid sick leave, and have failed to provide protection during the pandemic; it is far beyond time for our leaders to reckon with this nation's deep-seated health disparities and take bold action to address it. Now."

The report includes the following areas:

• An outline of the challenges residents of south and central Los Angeles faced from the beginning of the pandemic, including subpar housing, food deserts and chronic illness due to historic lack of health care access.
• A review of the proactive work completed by St. John's early in the pandemic, including accessing its own personal protective equipment and testing kits, as the federal government failed to act or provide guidance.
• An explanation of new processes St. John's clinics quickly enacted, including setting up telehealth, quarantine tents, mobile testing and contact tracing.
• Tracking the number of patients tested and infected over the past six months.
• Highlighting the racial disparities of COVID-19 contraction and death in L.A. County.
• Calling for bold investments in places such as south Los Angeles that are home to vulnerable communities, in order to continue fighting COVID-19 and future crises.

According to public health data in the U.S., the coronavirus is disproportionately infecting and killing Black and Latinx Americans.

"There is increasing evidence that some racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These inequities put people at serious risk during the pandemic. Factors in minority communities — including discrimination, access to health resources, housing, work, education, wealth or income gaps — have resulted in more coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the CDC reports.

- City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

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