US seeks to avoid discrimination in virus fight

The US Department of Health and Human Services is issuing guidance on preventing discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says “it's important for us to acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified many of the racial and health disparities that quite frankly have been with us for generations.”

The US Department of Health and Human Services is issuing guidance on preventing discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines announced Monday instruct health departments to ensure that racial and ethnic minority populations "are not subjected to excessive wait times, rejected for hospital admissions, or denied access to intensive care units compared to similarly situated non-minority individuals." They also seek to ensure that the locations chosen for virus-testing sites are accessible to minority communities.

From the start, the novel Coronavirus has ravaged minority populations in the United States, with Black communities recording infection and death numbers that far outstrip their percentage of the population. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says "it's important for us to acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified many of the racial and health disparities that quite frankly have been with us for generations."