This was six times higher and then two. One times that of imwhite americans. Unfortunately this information of the distrust played a significant role in theseca adoutcomes with the emergency physician a visiting professor of Health Policy management at the George WashingtonUniversity Institute for Public Health previously served as the Health Commissioner at the city of baltimore the oldest continuously operating Health Department with the Opioid Epidemic to improve maternal and child health and the Public Health issue. A leading voice on the call for science based policies and on monday talk about the impact of covid 19 on communities of color in the us. We have video to play here. Thank you so much for joining us a way to start off with disparity of covid19 and those outcomes for people of color around the United States. First of all im glad to join you thank you for focusing on this topic because this disease does not affect people equally communities of color. The front of this pandemic to unmask many Health Disparities for a long time that have a existed and the wake of this pandemic we have seen africanamericans and native americans and native islanders was so many Health Disparities have experienced those outcomes just passionately many times so it is severalfold so first we know that social distancing is a privilege that not everyone has access to so people of color are essential workers and to have that opportunity and people of color are in multigenerationalou housing were even basic passions like isolation and quarantine is difficult and then they would make people more susceptible for this outcome from covid19. One of the threen africanamericans compared to one out of 12 whites was any surprise africanamericans also disproportionally have diabetes, obesity, Heart Disease with these conditions they are also predisposed to severe outcomes because of covid19 it is a reminderemathit is not the virus in the case that is doing the discriminating it is the traditions of people live in thee determinants that in many ways to influence those Health Outcomes and very tragically the most of all the same trend that we see in adults three quarters of all the deaths that have occurred among children are among the same populations of black and brown children. Getting at the data that we are improving over time with the course of the pandemic itself and how those have cords changed over the course of the last seven months and then to recapitulate over time. Its a really good question that i have the answer to because we have been missing data all along and from the very beginning we have a big problem with data maybe they were just Getting Started missing the key data points of who is impacted and who are the t individuals with increased rates of hospitalization to make the difficult comparison and also different groups that could be classified differently some report on Asian Americans others with Pacific Islanders so one hopes disparities based on the limited data that we have that is not getting any better. How information or misinformation orns disinformation about the virus itself are being received in communities of colo color. A mad disinformation in general around covid19as has been a big problem first that this disinformation of power covid19 given the data there was the cdc report to look at the conditions that are reported and even that information has been misinterpreted and so many different ways and not just contain one diagnosis process have respiratory failure as the cause of thehe death as the underlying condition in addition to having covid19 that doesnt mean they died because of coronavirus its like saying someone who died from a car accident but also had cancer somehow they did not die from the crash because they also had cancer. Even like that has been misinterpreted in so many different ways. Speaks to this response that there has been makes messaging and instead of having Public Health lead in the response we have seen Public Health experts to be push under the press between the rest officials have different and thats how led to a lot of confusionen and then you have a different problem in this case as well which is to have communities that distrust like vaccine they may be anti science and because of those various political interference and that has interfered and now you have a whole group of people who just trust the process for Regulatory Approval not because they distrust science but they fear political process of the manipulation a a and then with e medical community but then look at those legacies to have those experiments that what ethical and legal experimentation now asking the sameex groups to be involved in vaccine trials we want to include everyone. But it really is important for us to do Public Outreach and education in addition to also make sure when these vaccines comeme out that the distribution is such those same communities that are the most impacted by also receive the vaccines otherwise we will touch with the concept that we are experimenting on black and brown parties so it is a right and privilege of individuals. And we have to do our best to make sure science leads a process where overcoming the makes messaging that is hampering our response all alon along. And that those are creating an environment of distrust so if you are still a Public Health commissioner anywhere around the United States, what are some concrete things you would want to put in place in this moment right now that is the complexity. I appreciate the question because so often we admire the problem and we dont get to the solution. There are tangible solutions in particular when it comes to we do seeing the disproportionate impact on communities of color i have the opportunity to testify in front of congress twice the last several months about the solutions urging congress. You talk about what we would put that extremely Resource Limited in finding disinformation every day , doing so much with those resources while also trying because its also for their communities and also trying to work on food access ands dollars other fact with these conditions but if i could say what could we all do but then we talk about the issue of data lets make it known on thee breakdown to death from covid19 also testing. One really specific characteristic we should beri measuring is to test positivity we know that should be belowow 5 percent we are not testing nearly enough. We should be making those rates available across the demographics through those specific zip codes that what i mean is you could have them int a state of center even and 3 percent going the right direction but if we have that positivity to find and in that zip code at 20 percent to 30 percent but that zip code really need specific resources so to target testing like mobile testing or churches or Community Groups so we target the resources to those communities that need at the most not addressing the population as a whole or the key population of equity and Worker Protection essential workers tend to be people of color may still have the right amount of ppe individuals who were Home Health Workers and meatpacking plants with Worker Protections on the federal level and at the state and local t level in this will be really important with that just person impact those communities of color we know that housing for example very much influences that Food Insecurity and so if we tell our patients if they are ill is somebody lives in a house they are literally unable to keep it that we as a so that society how do we give them the resources to do so . If they are afraid of losing their job if they are testing positive or exposed what objections can we plan to place . Obvious that then with the educational divide those disparities that we see at this time it is such a complex issue to reopen schools and many have o reopened potentially in a way that may contribute to outbreaks among the students staff andou teachers at the same time keeping them closed will the educational divide and continue to the covid slide we are seeing all so the keycountry here is for us as a society to reduce the level of Community Spread to invest resources into our schools not just private schools but to all schools in particular that already lack the resources so we can as a society prioritize schools is the most essential to help her children who are the most in need. Tell me more about your experiences talking to people whether healthcare workers, patients were members of the communities themselves that aremus affected. What have you been hearing from people on the ground . How are they reacting and what word you say they need to hear from us goingro forward . En i am hearing from patients and Community Members they want to do the right thing and are recognizing the areas where i live at least that absolutely understand that covid19 is a pandemic and it is affecting each of us. R conceptualize because people are giving up so much and people g e not seeing their grandchildren. Dr. Leana wen theyre older adults are not able to safely gather. Kids have not been able to go to school. Individuals have lost their livelihoods because of this pandemic. I am. We give up so much and have this opportunity early on to contain this in the make that we have not and will continuing to sacrifice so much. That is one thing. Another thing is that we cannot be isolated for the foreseeable future. Tas important for us to figure out what risk you will continue to take on and which of the risks that we really need to come down on. T understanding that we need to figure out how to live with this virus and the one thing that we are saying is that the any new infections are not so much do to the congregant settings or to the neural settings but rather informal settings people are getting infected through extended family and friends. Thats really important for all of us to keep on distributing is the need for continuing to be in our guard. Im to 50 percent of the spread is from individuals who do not have symptoms. There is a level of natural thinking that i think any of us have that are loved ones wont have coronavirus because we know them. And we love our loved ones. But somehow that is truly critical for us to see the mind that if we are doing all of these things, physically distance in school and wearing masks. Ri but if theyre only going to be coming together for play dates or birthday celebrations afterwards and noty going to be abiding by these restrictions, there were still going to have outbreaks. In fact these outbreaks are going to lead to schools being closed for longer. By the same token, for doing anything we can at the Grocery Stores and it works. Were still getting people together for dinner parties indoors, is also going to be limiting all of the good work that were doing. Remember to remember to use caution. Think aboutut all of e things are most important to you and remember that mask wearing. Gathering outdoors rather than indoors. And limiting or avoiding crowds. These are all the things that we can do in order to protect our loved ones. And also allows us to get as much back to normal and to not be isolated. Thank you so much for taking the time toth speak with us tody and all of the work that youre doing and please be safe and be well read. Dr. Leana wen thank you very much. [silence]. Joining us now to continue our discussion,ow we have doctor amanda, professor in the department of epidemiology and George Washington university. She is a physician, and cdc trained epidemiologist Whose Research focuses on hiv and Infectious Diseases. She has worked domestically and internationally on hiv aids it surveillance prevention, care and treatment. Since the start of covid19 pandemic, shes been providing support to local Health Departments, and serving as part of the Public Health team. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. Good morning and thank you havinfor having me. Sue and i would like to begin a conversation by asking you about one of doctor winds remark dr. This trust towards medical and Public Health institutions. Largely because of the history and unethical things happening. Can you tell us a little bit more about this and about how this history might be h shaping coronavirus outcomes in the u. Sa now. Dr. with docto dr. Leana wen , we received in history these unethical limitations among communities of color. The think back to the native americans, the colonization of the United States bringing Infectious Diseases that these populations had never seen before. And systematically stripping native americans of their rights, the land and their heritage. And even in the 1990s, we saw research that has been done. There was his Diabetes Project done among a group, a native american tribes for these individuals had agreed to share information and to actually give blood for theod Research Study s supposed to be focus on diabetes only to find out that the information in the blood was being used for other purposes. Some examples such as these are unfortunately pervasive throughout the culture. Then africanamerican rimmunities, the the syphilis experiment is still in the back of any peoples mind is. This is a study that took place for decades among africanamerican men. Afwho they were being looked at for syphilis infections. Even though it treatmentn was available in the 40s, these men werere not able to access ts treatment. The study on until 1972. So all of these are examples where because of the way that communities have been treated, there certainly understandably skepticism, this trust, people are scared in these communities. In unfortunately, covid19 did not create the situation. Covid19 has reminded us of this unhealed wound. And how yet another pandemic in another situation such as this is really impacted these communities. As dr. Leanaas wen mentioned, we seen because of these long hysterical racism things, these communities of color were at risk and have a higher prevalence of these conditions. Living in crowded housing. They constitute the majority of potentiaessential workers. We w from the data those are all risk factors. In this fight we are sing these high rates of mortality among these communities of color. So unfortunately is not something new to those of us living in these communities. It just continues to show how much inequity there is. Rebekah is really revealing, the long standing historical but is now very clear contemporary inequities bringing them much more clearly to life it seems. I would like to turn now to our next panelist. Bring her into our conversation. Shape is the founder and executive director good prematurity take a hit and dedicated to ending online abuse. It was founded very shortly after in london face really horrendous online abuse. She traveled the globe now developing Practical Solutions to protect our Online Public spaces from hate and abuse and to inform people about how best to be digital citizens. Shes man entered National Human rights defender. In 2019, she was the digital leader of the year, she was named that. She is joining idp as this years ninth fellow. It we are delighted to have you here and so happy to welcome you to the family. It. Thank you i can officially tell people. [inaudible]. Of the idp family. Rebekah we are really really happy to have you join us. I would like to for the first question i wouldld like to put o you. I want t focus a little bit of e scene of today. Our conferences really premised on the notion that covid19 has forced our lives including our political lives online, really like never before. Yet as noted in tape we rolled the beginning. It is b a privilege, not affordd to people of color in the same ways that reduce to white people. And at the samee time, if your own personal experience illustrates that when people engaging in politics online, the face abuse and harassment. Really in disproportionate levels. Can you tell us a bit more about this in your work in this area. Yes great. Im really excited to be part of this panel. Normally have to tell them what it is. Maybe we can just cut to the solution. Youre right to set the context of, before covid19, there is already an issue run humanities and how women and much of our community, before covid19 the black men in the uk and in different parts of europe, where eight people with a bullet like you mentioned and abusive treatment. [inaudible]. In the a crime was going through the roof in the Lgbt Community also facing online abuse. And then you had lockdowns. And then happened around they march in the uk. And you saw the regulating of the internet moderators. We had been spending a lot of time online. And that set alarm bells about how we increased these varying communities of disproportionately affected that the same time we have an investmente around education and around what to do when somebody is facing abuse online. When you have that, you have the covid19, youve already abuse online and what you saw was basically an explosion of online abuse where women this year reports, the effects of the pandemic online, 46 percent of women surveyed said they have receive some form of harassment. And people of color its even more. And black women and minority people, it would have 60 percent. So the small uk trying to find an inside to show th