Pritzker Breaks Coronavirus Test Promise To Black Community

CHICAGO — At a Friday news conference, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he had a plan to address alarming statistics that show African Americans, who make up 15 percent of the Illinois' population, account for 40 percent of the state's confirmed coronavirus cases.

The governor said he teamed up four Chicago community health centers with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital to conduct hundreds of COVID-19 tests a day on Chicago's South and West Sides starting Monday.

Pritzker's plan to boost testing relied on Lawndale Christian Health Center, PCC Community Wellness Center, Chicago Family Health Center and Friend Family Health Center — organizations that serve low-income, often uninsured residents, to collect deep nasal swab specimens that would be tested at Lurie Children's Hospital.

"Generations of systemic disadvantages in healthcare delivery and healthcare access in communities of color, and black communities in particular, are now amplified in this crisis all across the state and across the nation," Pritzker said.

"We are making sure that our plans reflect equity in access, testing and treatment, and we are asking the same of healthcare providers across the state. It's in moments of crisis that we owe each other even greater expressions of humanity."

State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), who demanded Pritzker's administration increase testing in African American communities, praised the governor in messages telling residents in his West Side district they would have access to COVID-19 testing on Monday.

A week later, testing supplies haven't been delivered to community health centers because the state doesn't have them, according to an email obtained by Patch.

"Deputy Governor Sol Flores reached out to PCC to ask if we were willing to increase our COVID-19 testing. We immediately and enthusiastically agreed," according to a letter sent to elected officials by PCC Community Health Center president Robert Urso.

"We are not able to do so yet; we are waiting for supplies (which the State is trying to obtain), and a testing protocol with Lurie Children's Hospital."

The health center broke the bad news to patients on Facebook: "We will not be testing on Monday because we do not have the supplies."

Sources told Patch officials at Lurie Hospital — which in January received a $15 million donation from a foundation controlled by Pritzer's sister — knew they didn't have enough equipment and testing capacity to make good on the 400 tests-a-day promise when the governor made the announcement.

"[Lurie officials] were under intense pressure," a source said.

A Lurie Children's Hospital spokeswoman confirmed that the hospital has not started and isn't ready to conduct the additional coronavirus tests. Currently, the hospital is only testing patients and employees. The spokeswoman said it was unclear when testing might begin. She directed questions to Rep. Ford.

"This pisses me off. … This is really bad. If black people don't get tested, we just die," Ford said. "If we don't get tests it's like the state is saying you're on your own, West Side. That's pretty pathetic."

A Pritzker spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Ford said the governor's broken promise on providing testing isn't just troubling, it's personal. The Democratic state representative said he knows at least 15 African Americans who have died from COVID-19. They were healthy or had only minor health troubles, Ford said.

"But they weren't going to die if it wasn't for coronavirus. And one of the reasons they died is because they were not tested," Ford continued. "I'm seeing long lines for drive-up testing in other areas and none here in Austin. This is an indication of how the black community at large — and not just over the coronavirus — are treated by government."

Ford said the lack of coronavirus testing amounts to a death sentence for low-income African Americans living without access to quality health care.

"Life expectancy in Austin is 20 to 25 years less than it is nine miles to the east, downtown. Black people are already dying. Now, if you have an underlying condition and you get COVID-19, we don't know if you have a life expectancy," Ford said.

"How can the governor say we're bending the curve when they're not testing an entire segment of the population? It's false narrative. [Pritzker] has got to step up and make sure that he's taking care of people on the West Side and the black community at large."

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."

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