Black Communities Could Face Barriers In Getting Coronavirus Testing

As the spread continues to spike nationwide with cases of rising, concerns are rising that Black communities will be harder hit due to the availability of testing. A new report examines this potentially dangerous reality and what steps are being taken to mitigate the situation.

BuzzFeed News has released a new report that highlights the efforts of doctors in Virginia in getting handy data and updated information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization respectively. As testing kits become scarce due to the impact felt in larger urban centers, a shortage of testing material is impending according to these researchers.

Further, the doctors believe that Black communities and other impoverished groups will not have the access enjoyed by their white or income-stable counterparts.

“We know in the US that there are great discrepancies in not only the diagnosis but the treatment that African Americans and other minorities are afforded. So I want to make sure that in this pandemic, that black and brown people are treated in the same way and that these tests are made available in the same pattern as for white people,” Dr. Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Virginia said in BuzzFeed News’ report.

Dr. Cameron Webb, a Democratic Party candidate running for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was far more candid in saying, “I don’t want to speak about black Americans as if we’re all the same, but there’s a lot of reasons not to trust the government to be fair in circumstances like these.”

BuzzFeed News’ entire examination of this new reality is worthy of a full read, and you can find the rest here.

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Photo: Getty