State virus task force releases report on disparity

After months of meeting with community leaders in various marginalized communities across the state, the COVID-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity reported Thursday that it found the pandemic had a greater effect on “vulnerable communities” which “have historically experienced gaps in health care coverage and access.”

Policy recommendations in the report include long- and short-term goals to reduce obstacles that cause disparities in the communities.

“About a month after the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in Pennsylvania, I asked Lt. Gov. [John] Fetterman to chair a new task force that would identify any differences in health outcomes for different populations,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a news conference Thursday. “And to make recommendations to ensure every Pennsylvanian, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic background, has equal opportunity to survive and thrive during this pandemic and beyond.”

The task force, which met weekly since April 17, gathered information from the following groups: Latino, Asian Pacific American, African American, LGBT and a women’s commission, along with various community stakeholders.

These recommendations are “geared to tackling the immense disparities in marginalized communities,” Mr. Fetterman said.

The task force’s report focused on the “key issues” of housing, criminal justice, food insecurity, health disparities and economic opportunities. The task force provided recommendations for each issue.

Black communities across the state have seen a higher COVID-19 infection and death rate than other communities. This comes from a number of reasons, including lack of testing in those communities and limited or no access to health care, the report found.

Employment can also play a role in the higher rates.

“Overwhelmingly, our frontline essential employees are coming from these communities of color,” Mr. Fetterman said.

To combat this and other health-related problems in marginalized communities, the task force made 12 recommendations for the state.

These include requiring health practitioners to complete

anti-racism and diversity training, improving education about health care access, expanding criticalcare infrastructure and capacity, and increasing funding to communitybased organizations with ties to immigrant communities, among others.

With students heading back to school, equal education opportunities were also a main focus of the report.

“As we head into this new school year, we need to ensure that all students start with an equal opportunity,” Mr. Fetterman said.

He emphasized the need for improvements in the state’s broadband infrastructure and to standardize remote learning and access to technology.

“The Department of Education should be making sure that all communities of students have equitable access to their education. This includes ensuring information and resources are accessible to people with disabilities,” the report said.

One of the main concerns with schools going partially or fully online is that not all students may have access to the technology needed to complete their coursework. These recommendations work to mitigate those issues.

In total, the task force put forth 57 recommendations. In addition to those addressing health disparity and education, the recommendations also touch on issues with housing, criminal justice, food insecurity and economic opportunities.

“Even though COVID-19 is in the task force title, you’re going to note that many of the recommendations are looking at a much broader set of disparities that exist throughout the commonwealth,” Mr. Wolf said.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, of Squirrel Hill, who is the Democractic chair of the Health Committee, echoed Mr. Fetterman’s suggestion that the Legislature take action in following the recommendations.

“The coronavirus crisis has brought to the fore many of the inequities of our society, inequalities that many of us have fought against for decades, but which those in power chose to minimalize. As the Black Lives Matter movement has shown us, the people of our commonwealth want us to do better, expect us to do better,” Mr. Frankel said in a news release.

“Our disadvantaged communities — whether because of race, identity or sexuality, have once again borne the brunt of a crisis, and have, in many cases, been asked to jeopardize their health for the greater good even as their access to vital resources are obstructed. We must do better.”

The full report — including a summary of some of the data used to create the report — can be found on the governor’s website.