March 30, 2020

Associated Press: Pressley And Warren Call For Racial Data In Coronavirus Testing

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley are calling out an apparent lack of racial data that they say is needed to monitor and address disparities in the national response to the coronavirus outbreak.

In a letter sent Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Warren and Pressley said comprehensive demographic data on people who are tested or treated for the virus that causes COVID-19 does not exist. Over the weekend, cities with large black and nonwhite Hispanic populations emerged as new hot spots for the spread of the virus.

"Any attempt to contain COVID-19 in the United States will have to address its potential spread in low-income communities of color, first and foremost to protect the lives of people in those communities, but also to slow the spread of the virus in the country as a whole," the lawmakers wrote to Azar.

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By:  Adam Morrison
Source: Associated Press